E/CN.4/1996/72 page 5 D. Missions of the Special Rapporteur 13. During 1995, the Special Rapporteur visited in turn Brazil, Germany, France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. His report on his mission to Brazil is available as document E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.1. Those on the missions to Germany, France and the United Kingdom, will, because of lack of resources and time constraints, be submitted later. Germany, France and the United Kingdom respectively submitted periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which will usefully supplement the information gathered during the missions, without duplicating it. That information can be summarized as follows. 1. Mission to Germany 14. The Special Rapporteur visited Germany from 18 to 27 September 1995. He wishes to convey his appreciation to the German Government for the thoroughness with which the visit was organized and for the outstanding hospitality with which he was received and which contributed greatly to the success of his mission. He was most gratified at the highly instructive and valuable exchanges of views he had with the people with whom he spoke and appreciated their responsiveness and availability, as well as their knowledge of the problems and their wish to arrive at satisfactory solutions which, in fact, were not always self-evident. However, it is to be regretted that a lawyer should have made a point of relating all issues - immigrants, right of asylum, holding centres, and so forth - to the Federal system and to the domestic law of Germany, as well as to the European Union, the prime objective of the German people, thus overlooking international law and the international conventions duly ratified by his country. The Special Rapporteur based his discussions on a principle and a virtue which he regards as essential: dialogue. 15. His German counterparts grasped the situation so well that they called him the "Ambassador for Human Rights" a title he welcomes and which he is keen to deserve fully since it is a noble calling. This attitude which was soon shared by both sides quickly dispelled the somewhat inquisitorial climate which characterized the start of his discussions, and greatly facilitated them. 16. Xenophobia exists in Germany. It is widely acknowledged that at the grass-roots level there is racism; hatred of foreigners is not directed against Europeans, Americans or Australians. Racism is based on skin colour and religion: people of Judaeo-Christian background and the rest. It is said that foreigners are tolerated, but not accepted. 17. It is appropriate to recall that German reunification was accompanied by a chorus of xenophobic sentiments encouraged by organizations of the far right and by neo-Nazi cells. Between 1991 and 1993 there was a plethora of incidents motivated by xenophobia or racism and targeting foreigners and asylum-seekers. While being mindful of the positive trend taken by events since 1994, the Special Rapporteur wished to look into the underlying causes of the phenomena observed and to acquaint himself with the measures taken by the Federal Government and by the authorities of the Länder and with what had been done by civil society.