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External sources (not reviewed)

During their visit, the Working Group found that the challenges faced by people of African descent in Portugal related mainly to their lack of recognition as a specific group in the national policy and legal framework; the lack of recognition of their positive contribution throughout history to the construction and development of the country; the lack of qualitative and quantitative disaggregated data by racial or ethnic origin; the existence of a circle of poverty, unequal access to education, public services, employment, as well as discrimination in the administration and functioning of the justice system; existence of racial profiling and police violence; underrepresentation in political and institutional decision-making processes, as well as the lack of special measures or affirmative action policies in Portugal for people of African descent or other minorities.

The membership of the Advisory Commission is currently as follows: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States; to invite Palestine to attend and fully participate in its meetings as an observer; to invite the European Community to attend its meetings; and to invite the League of Arab States to attend its meetings as an observer.

During this session, the SHS and SC Commissions examined the resolution proposed in document 35 C/COM SC/DR.1 (submitted by: Austria, Belgium, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Congo, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Finland, Iceland, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Slovenia, Sweden, Tuvalu, Uruguay; co-sponsored by: Barbados, Costa Rica, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Monaco, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, Suriname, and Zambia), requesting the Director-General to strengthen UNESCO’s specialized capacity on climate change, building upon UNESCO’s unique interdisciplinary profile.

For Canada, those covered the terminal phase-out management plan for ODS in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector in Saint Lucia and the terminal phase-out management plan for Annex A Group I substances in Uruguay; for Italy, the umbrella project for terminal phase-out of ODS in the solvent sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the phase-out of methyl bromide as a soil fumigant in Morocco, and the terminal CTC phase-out project in Serbia; and for Spain, the phase-out of methyl bromide in horticulture in Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Subsequently, Albania, Angola, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, China, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Morocco, Poland, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States of America and Zimbabwe joined the co-sponsors.