A/HRC/18/45 62. Mr. Sicilianos emphasized that people of African descent remained invisible in many countries, especially in Europe, and reiterated, inter alia, the importance of disaggregated data as a tool to address the marginalization of people of African descent. He stressed in that regard that the lack of data had to be resolved in order to measure and assess the vulnerability of this group and to advocate for special measures that would counter de facto inequalities. He specified that such data should be anonymous, as some people of African descent do not want to appear as belonging to this specific group, precisely because of the stigma attached to it. 63. The speaker stated that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination systematically solicited disaggregated data from States, but that some countries were reluctant to collect such data because of privacy issues. Mr. Sicilianos also referred to the discrimination against people of African descent in the field of the administration of the criminal justice system, as well as in relation to the effective enjoyment of political rights and participation in the conduct of public affairs. 64. Following Mr. Sicilianos’ presentation, Murillo Martinez, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, stated that the situation of people of African descent was receiving increasing attention from the Committee. He pointed out that during its upcoming session, the Committee would discuss a draft general recommendation on people of African descent and called for the experts of the Working Group to contribute to it. 65. Experts and panellists reiterated the importance of harmonizing the already existing statistical data and strongly reaffirmed that States had to gather disaggregated data in order to be able to monitor efficiently the situation of people of African descent. 66. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Githu Muigai, was invited by the Working Group as an expert panellist to make a presentation on the current situation of people of African descent. According to the Special Rapporteur, the issue of racial discrimination against this group was a permanent item of consideration in the activities of his mandate. He reported that the issue had been the focus of a number of his visits to countries and of several reports on, inter alia, structural discrimination, racism and poverty, the need for ethnically disaggregated data and statistics, the importance of the Millennium Development Goals and the impact of historical imbalances on the full enjoyment of human rights of certain vulnerable groups. 67. In his presentation, the Special Rapporteur focused on the poverty and socioeconomic marginalization that people of African descent face daily, as well as on the multiple forms of discrimination faced by women and girls of African descent. He emphasized the crucial role played by education and economic empowerment in changing attitudes. 68. The Special Rapporteur also stressed the need for further cooperation and discussion between the different United Nations human rights mechanisms in order to better identify issues of concern faced by this vulnerable group and to exchange best practices aimed at protecting the rights of people of African descent at the national, regional and international levels. 2. Discussion on positive action to combat discrimination against people of African descent 69. The Chairperson provided an overview of the current situation of people of African descent through a reflection on positive action. She stressed that, despite the general agreement that discrimination towards people of African descent persisted, there was systematic denial of the uniqueness of the discrimination towards this specific group, which 11