E/CN.4/2001/21 page 47 Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, due to be held in Durban (South Africa) in September 2001. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the holding of meetings of experts and regional conferences to prepare for the Conference and calls for greater mobilization and involvement of international public opinion and fuller media coverage. In the context of the World Conference, the Special Rapporteur wishes to repeat the recommendations which he made to the General Assembly, namely that States which have not yet ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination should do so prior to the Conference and set up national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights, with particular emphasis on combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and anti-Semitism; and that States which already have national human rights institutions or commissions should be asked to include in their programmes, if they have not already done so, the goal of combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Finally, the Special Rapporteur urges States to provide summaries of their legislation to combat racism, and NGOs to provide the High Commissioner for Human Rights with any relevant information or a summary of racist problems and practical measures for combating them effectively. 159. In recent years, the reform of the United Nations system for the protection of human rights seems to have resulted in a gradual downgrading of efforts to combat racism and racial discrimination. Thus, the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities which used to play a key role in this area, has now become the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, which has a wider remit. Within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the department which used to handle legislation and prevention of racial discrimination (under the former Centre for Human Rights) no longer exists. The Commission on Human Rights should look into the possibility of establishing a major programme or service within the Office of the High Commissioner, which would be entirely devoted to combating racism, racial discrimination and related intolerance. This would spawn real measures that go beyond rhetoric in order to grapple with the worldwide scourge of all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. -----