A/HRC/23/56/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance visited Spain from 21 to 28 January 2013. 2. The Special Rapporteur travelled to Almería, Barcelona, Ceuta, Madrid and Melilla. He met with representatives from the Government of Spain at the national, regional, provincial and local levels, the legislative and judicial branches, and security forces. 3. In addition to the meetings with the Government and State institutions, the Special Rapporteur met with the National Ombudsperson, the Regional Ombudspersons of Andalusia and Catalonia, and United Nations entities. He also had extensive meetings with parliamentarians, civil society actors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as with community members and other groups and individuals working in the field of racism. Regrettably, the Special Rapporteur did not meet with ministers, although he had requested meetings at that level. 4. The Special Rapporteur wishes to express his sincere gratitude to the Government of Spain for its cooperation in the preparation and conduct of the visit. He is grateful to the autonomous communities of Spain, including Andalusia and Catalonia, and to the different State agencies for their cooperation. He is also indebted to the United Nations entities and to his interlocutors from civil society, including NGOs, who cooperated with him throughout the mission and were very helpful during his visit. He hopes his conclusions and recommendations will contribute to finding concrete ways and means of addressing the challenges raised in this report in an effective and human rights-compliant manner. II. General background 5. Spain is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and it shares boundaries with France and Portugal, as well as with Andorra and Morocco. The Spanish territory comprises nearly five sixths of the Iberian Peninsula and includes the Balearic and Canary Islands and the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Spain is comprised of 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities which all have their own directly elected authorities. General elections were held in November 2011 and resulted in a change of the majority in favour of the currently ruling Popular Party, which replaced the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party in December 2011. The Spanish economy entered into a severe economic recession in 2008. The global economic crisis aggravated the situation due to Spain’s high level of foreign debt. 6. According to the 2011 census, Spain’s population is estimated at 46,815,916 inhabitants, of which 5,252,473 are non-Spanish citizens.1 There is no official data on the ethnic composition of the population. According to the Government, the Constitution prohibits the collection of ethnically disaggregated data by public authorities. However, several NGOs stressed that the Government’s official position on ethnic data is based on a restrictive interpretation of the Constitution. It should be highlighted that the authorities make extensive use of data and information gathered by NGOs and other relevant actors. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur appreciates that a map of the prevalence of racism and racial discrimination in Spain that refers to data and studies from independent research 1 Instituto Nacional de Estadística, available at http://www.ine.es/censos2011_datos/cen11_datos_inicio.htm. 3