A representative of the Secretary General opened the meeting with a lecture on the balance between the need to protect individuals, and preserve others’ freedom of expression. The representative of Suriname nominated the Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy for the position of Chairman; he was elected and given the responsibility of conducting the remainder of the meeting. He started by issuing the adoption of the agenda (CERD/SP/77).

The second set of elections were for the position of Vice Chairman (one to four representatives of state parties). The representatives from Albania and Iran were nominated by their regional groups and elected to the committee.

The most important set of elections that took place were the elections of nine members of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to replace those whose terms of office will expire on the 19^th of January 2016. The eight nominees with the most votes were Ms. Verene Albertha Shepherd (Jamaica), Ms. Yanduan Li (China), Ms. Fatimata-Binta Victoire Dah (Burkina Faso), Mr. Alexey Avtonomov (Russian Federation), Mr. Nicolás Marugán (Spain), Ms. Gay McDougall (United States of America), Mr. Pastor Elias Murillo Martinez (Colombia), and Mr. José Francisco Cali Tzay (Guatemala). Mr. Mario Jorge Yutzis (Argentina) and Ms. Yemhelhe Mint Mohamed (Mauritania) had an equal number of votes, and in order to determine the ninth new member of the committee, a new vote was conducted. The meeting ended with a brief discussion on the elimination of racial discrimination, and the necessity of combatting racist hate speech.

Meeting:  International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Meeting of States Parties Twenty-sixth Meeting (Meeting 1)
Date & Location: 25 June 2015; 10:00-13:00; Conference Room 1, UN Headquarters, New York
Speakers: Representative of the Secretary General; Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy
Written By WIT Representative: Renée S. Landzberg
Edited By WIT Representative: Parth Shingala