Jose Francisco Cali Tzay Re-Elected to ICERD

November 30th, 2011, United Nations Headquarters,  New York City:   Jose Francisco Cali Tzay, Mayan Caqchikel from Guatemala, was reelected today at the General Assembly of the State Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) to a third 4-year term as an expert member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).   His reelection, sponsored by Guatemala, passed with a vote of 127 countries.   

The 18-member CERD is the Treaty Monitoring Body for the ICERD.   The ICERD is one of 9 International Human Rights Treaties within the United Nations system.  It is legally-binding upon the 175 countries (“State parties”) which have ratified it, which include the United States and Canada.

The CERD was the first Treaty Monitoring body to be established within the UN System.  It reviews the compliance of the State parties with the provisions of the ICERD.  It also makes recommendations as State as to how they should change their policies and practices to ensure compliance with their obligations under the ICERD to eliminate racial discrimination in their countries.

Francisco Cali was the first and continues to be the only Indigenous member of the CERD or any UN Treaty Monitoring body.  During his previous two terms, he served as the CERD’s Vice President and also as Chair the CERD’s Urgent Action and Early Warning Complaint Procedure.  The CERD’s procedures have been used very effectively in recent years by Indigenous Peoples to address violations and threats to their rights to lands and resources, cultural practices, subsistence, sacred sites, free prior and informed consent and the rights affirmed in their Nation to Nation Treaties, among others.

Francisco Cali has served in the leadership of a number of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, Human Rights bodies and governmental agencies defending Indigenous Peoples Human rights in Guatemala and   internationally.  These include the Directorate of Human Rights, Rights of the Indigenous Peoples, Environment, Culture, and International Humanitarian Rights of the Guatemala Foreign Ministry,  the Presidential Commission against Racial Discrimination in Guatemala, the United Nations Commission on Historical Clarification on Guatemala,  CEPRODI (Centro de Proyectos de Desarrollo Integral), the Indigenous Peoples Rights Program of  CALDH (Legal Center for Human Rights) and  the Board of Directors of the International Indian Treaty Council.    

The International Indian Treaty Council joins with Indigenous Peoples, Guatemala, and the international human rights community in warmly congratulating Francisco Cali Tzay upon his historic reelection.