A/HRC/32/50/Add.1 issuance of the special prosecutor’s act, ensuring their access to the competent authorities. The Network also recommended inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the specific government departments tasked with combating racist violence, and protection of the rights of human rights defenders, namely those persons and institutions promoting and protecting human rights. 39. The Special Rapporteur also noted that several United Nations agencies in Greece had conducted programmes which targeted the elimination of racism. The Special Rapporteur was pleased to note that a number of civil society organizations provided significant services, including integrated medical clinics open to all, regardless of their migration status or financial situation. Several human rights organizations were also present in Greece and had conducted extensive research into hate speech and racist violence.16 VI. Main challenges in the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance A. The economic and social crisis 40. Since May 2010, the Government has been enforcing harsh austerity measures that have not only undermined the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly by the most vulnerable groups, but also resulted in a rise of hate and xenophobic crimes against immigrant communities17 in an attempt to find scapegoats for the crisis. Although Greece already had the highest poverty rate in the eurozone prior to 2009, the austerity measures, particularly job redundancies and cuts to wages and benefits, have pushed more than a third of the population into being at risk of poverty or social exclusion. 18 Private final consumption expenditure is the main component of GDP, accounting for 72 per cent in 2014, followed by government final consumption expenditure (20 per cent) and gross capital formation (12 per cent). Although austerity measures have included elements requiring a greater contribution to fiscal savings by the more affluent, these measures have nevertheless further reduced the income of population groups that were already at the bottom of the income distribution in 2009, thus exacerbating poverty and social exclusion. The poorest households lost nearly 86 per cent of their income, while the richest lost between 17 and 20 per cent. Moreover, the tax burden on the poor increased by 337 per cent, while the burden on upper-income classes increased by only 9 per cent. 41. There is evidence that a considerable number of individuals and families have been facing extreme hardship. For example, social workers have identified migrants, persons with disabilities and their families, single-parent families with small children, and pensioners as those most affected by the crisis. 19 Such concerns were raised recently by the Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, following his mission to Greece. 20 Children from low-income families, usually but by no means exclusively of immigrant background, are also at risk. 16 17 18 19 20 12 Amnesty International Report 2014/15: The State of the World’s Human Rights, p. 163; Human Rights Watch, World Report 2015: European Union , section on Greece, available from www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/european-union?page=2#greece; and European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Racism, Discrimination, Intolerance and Extremism: Learning from Experiences in Greece and Hungary (Luxembourg, 2013). See A/HRC/25/50/Add.1. Eurostat, “People at risk of poverty or social exclusion”, data extracted in January 2015. Caritas Hellas, in collaboration with Caritas Europe, 2013 report. See A/HRC/31/60/Add.2.