Discrimination During COVID-19 1. The NHRC anticipates that the national report on the implementation of ICERD will provide additional information about COVID-19 impacts on ICERD- protected groups and minorities and the response measures taken by the government in keeping with the 2021 Statement adopted by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in its 101st-103rd Sessions.1 2. During COVID-19, some groups and minorities did not have complete access to information provided by the government, and policies enacted in response to the pandemic failed to adequately consider the needs of different groups and minorities. The NHRC provides the following observations regarding groups and minorities that experienced greater impacts from the pandemic: Indigenous peoples 3. The NHRC is concerned about the lack of reporting on the plight of indigenous peoples and inequalities in their treatment during COVID-19. The Commission commends the Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) for launching the CIP Relief Package for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens which proposed measures to alleviate the additional burden on the lives of indigenous people 1 Statement adopted by the 101st-103rd sessions of CERD in 2021: The Committee encourages all State Parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination to specifically address the following in their next reports under article 9 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: (a) The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on groups and minorities protected under the Convention within their territory and under their jurisdiction (b) Measures taken to ensure the participation of all groups and minorities, in particular women, children and persons with disability, in the design and implementation of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic (c) Measures taken to protect people belonging to groups and minorities protected under the Convention from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (d) Measures taken to protect members of vulnerable groups against discriminatory acts and to counter hate speech and stigmatization in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic (e) Measures taken to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on members of marginalized and vulnerable groups in accordance with their obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil economic, social, and cultural rights. 6