A/HRC/59/62/Add.1 development goal on the elimination of racial discrimination, support for the International Decade for People of African Descent and some efforts to implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. IV. Key issues relating to the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and relevant government initiatives 8. While recognizing positive elements in the response of the Government of Brazil to racism and racial discrimination, it was evident to the Special Rapporteur during her visit that people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples, Quilombola communities, Roma persons and those from other marginalized racial and ethnic groups in Brazil, including those who face intersectional discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex status and/or migrant or refugee status, continue to experience multifaceted, deeply interconnected and pervasive manifestations of systemic racism. In the present section, the Special Rapporteur outlines key areas where additional efforts are needed to address contemporary manifestations of systemic racism and racial discrimination. A. Cross-cutting considerations 9. The effectiveness of anti-racial discrimination measures needs to be continually monitored and regularly evaluated to ensure that they are reaching all affected communities and are contributing to the realization of substantive racial equality. Disaggregated data on all racial and ethnic groups is therefore essential. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the information that she received on the efforts being made to ensure the collection of disaggregated data, including the Racial Equality Hub, the inclusion of Quilombola people in the 2022 census, the National Observatory for Human Rights and the National Human Rights Evidence Network. She is, however, concerned that gaps in the available disaggregated data persist. These include a seeming lack of data on the situations of Roma persons and on persons facing intersectional discrimination, and gaps in data on the situation of Indigenous Peoples. 10. Another cross-cutting concern is the continued lack of an independent national human rights institution that is fully compliant with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles). The Special Rapporteur welcomes the steps that have been taken to operationalize a national human rights institution and stresses the importance of completing this process given the essential role that such institutions play in the development, implementation and monitoring of measures to combat racial discrimination. 11. The Special Rapporteur highly commends Brazil on the setting up of the Ministry of Racial Equality and welcomes information about the Ministry and its coordination of anti-racial discrimination initiatives across government. She notes, however, the absence of a national action plan for the eradication of racial discrimination, which would help to consolidate and monitor the different measures being taken at the federal and state levels. She also notes reports that, despite some recent increases, the overall budget allocated to anti-racial discrimination initiatives remains limited. 12. The Special Rapporteur notes with concern information about the potentially racially disproportionate impact of efforts made in the National Congress to introduce legislation that would contravene existing protections in national law and obligations under international human rights law. These efforts include the passing by the National Congress of Law No. 14.701/2023 on the demarcation of Indigenous land, and consideration of a number of bills, including bill No. 1904/2024 by which penalties of up to 20 years of prison could be imposed on those who seek an abortion on the permitted grounds beyond 22 weeks of gestation, proposed constitutional amendment No. 164/2012 aimed at amending article 5 of the Constitution to establish that the right to life must be guaranteed from conception and proposed constitutional amendment No. 45/2023 criminalizing the possession of all illegal drugs. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur reminds the State, including the legislature, of its obligations under international human rights law to prevent and address all forms of racial 4 GE.25-06011