E/CN.4/2005/21 page 3 Introduction 1. The Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent held its fourth session from 25 October to 5 November 2004 at the United Nations Office at Geneva. I. ORGANIZATION OF THE SESSION A. Attendance 2. The Working Group held 15 public meetings and four private meetings during its fourth session. 3. The Working Group was attended by its members: Peter Lesa Kasanda (Chairperson-Rapporteur), Joseph Frans, Georges Nicolas Jabbour, and Irina Moroianu-Zlătescu. 4. The fourth session of the Working Group was attended by observers from 58 States, 22 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and two intergovernmental organizations. The list of participants is contained in annex II. B. Documentation 5. The documents before the Working Group at this session are listed in annex III. All working papers submitted by the participants are available at the Secretariat or can be found at the site www.unhchr.ch//html/menu2/7/b/mafrican.htm. C. Organization of work 6. At the first meeting, held on 25 October 2004, the Working Group, in accordance with its mandate, re-elected the Chairperson-Rapporteur, Mr. Kasanda, and the Working Group adopted its agenda (annex I). II. SUBSTANTIVE SUMMARY OF THE FOURTH SESSION OF THE WORKING GROUP 7. The Chief of the Research and Right to Development Branch of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Dzidek Kedzia, delivered the opening address. He asserted that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance remained present threats to human dignity and that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action provided the international community with a functional common agenda to combat their manifestations. 8. He also noted that the challenges faced by the international community through racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance included concerns about their infiltration into societies and that they were affecting the very foundations of democratic structures. The international community could no longer accept that whole communities were marginalized on account of skin colour, religion and/or culture.