E/CN.4/1995/78 page 3 INTRODUCTION 1. At its fiftieth session, in February 1994, the Commission on Human Rights considered the preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (E/CN.4/1994/66). 2. By its resolution 1994/64 of 9 March 1994, the Commission took note of that report and welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s proposal concerning the organization of an interdisciplinary seminar on the problems of the theoretical aspects and specific manifestations of contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. 3. The Commission also made the mandate more explicit and precise by requesting the Special Rapporteur to examine incidents of contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, any form of discrimination against Blacks, Arabs and Muslims, xenophobia, negrophobia, anti-Semitism, and related intolerance, as well as governmental measures to overcome them, and to report on those matters to the Commission at its fifty-first session. 4. The Commission also requested the Special Rapporteur to have an exchange of views with the various relevant mechanisms and treaty bodies within the United Nations system, including the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in order to further enhance their effectiveness and mutual cooperation. In addition, it encouraged the Special Rapporteur, in close consultation with Governments, relevant organizations of the United Nations system, other intergovernmental organization and non-governmental organizations, to present further recommendations concerning human rights education with a view to preventing actions giving rise to racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 5. Lastly, the Commission requested the Secretary-General without further delay to provide the Special Rapporteur with all the necessary assistance in carrying out his mandate and enabling him to submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth session and a comprehensive report to the Commission at its fifty-first session. 6. It should also be noted that the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, basing himself on the recommendations of the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights (1993/46 and 1994/45), sent a letter on 29 August 1994 to the Special Rapporteur, drawing his attention to the need to report regularly and systematically on available information on human rights violations affecting women. 7. Accordingly, this report has been prepared in response to the above-mentioned request of the Commission on Human Rights and takes account of the reminder from the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights concerning the particular situation of women. 8. The Special Rapporteur would like to specify that this report should be read in conjunction with the interim report to the General Assembly (A/49/677). He would therefore ask the members of the Commission to refer