A/71/301 provisions in a manner consistent with the Islamic sharia. The legislation guarantees equality and criminalizes racial discrimination. 70. Serbia informed the Special Rapporteur about its several action plans, one of which is the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for Preventi on and Protection against Discrimination for the period 2014 -2018. The Strategy for Social Inclusion of Roma in the Republic of Serbia for 2016 -2025 targets discrimination against Serbia’s Roma population. The national employment action plan for 2016 also addresses employment issues for the Roma population. Additionally, the action plan adopted in 2016 for chapter 23 of the acquis communautaire of the European Union, “Judiciary and fundamental rights”, lays out amendments to the Criminal Code that would increase its effectiveness in fighting racism and xenophobia by, among other improvements, increasing “detection, discovery and arrest of the perpetrators of crimes involving violence caused by personal capacity towards national minorities”. It also envisages “strengthening the capacity of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality”, an equality official who receives and reports complaints of violations of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. The Action Plan for Exercising the Rights of National Mino rities, adopted in 2016, outlines amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities to improve access to public employment opportunities. 71. Slovakia reported on its national action plan on preventing and combating racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance for the period 2016-2018. The action plan is aimed at preventing prejudices, stereotyping and hate speech on the basis of national, racial, religious, ethnic or similar intolerance, as well as preventing the spread of attitudes and actions promoting racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance. It sets goals and deadlines for tasks to be performed by individual ministries and State institutions. The government committee on preventing and countering racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, which is composed of the representatives of various State departments, NGOs and academic experts, oversees implementation of the national action plan. 72. Slovenia indicated that in the Protection against Discrimination Act of 2016, a national specialized body, the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, was established. The Advocate is tasked with “protection against discrimination based on any ground”. Its functions include assisting victims of discrimination with legal cases, conducting inspections, gathering data and information, publishing reports and recommendations, conducting campaigns to raise awareness and communicating with interested European Union bodies. 73. South Africa informed the Special Rapporteur that although it does not yet have a national action plan against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, a draft was launched and released for public consultation in 2016. The South African Human Rights Commission, created under chapter 9 of the Constitution, is making an effort to expedite finalization of the draft national action plan. The national action plan would strengthen South Africa’s existing policy on xenophobia by consolidating strategies, assigning roles to different bodies, establishing a rapid response team to identify cases of discrimination and specifically targeting racism, rather than discrimination generally. The national action plan would also pool resources, intensify efforts to fight racism in targeted sectors and promote education and diversity training. More generally, the national action plan would provide a framework, set priorities and develop mechanisms to 18/21 16-13565