A/HRC/4/19/Add.3 page 25 77. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur noted the profound social, economic and political marginalization faced by ethnic minorities and other discriminated groups, resulting in the violation of their most basic rights, including access to employment, education, housing or health services. The Special Rapporteur found particularly disturbing the poor living conditions of the Roma community and the prevailing culture of suspicion and segregation based on the traditional stigma, stereotypes and prejudices associated with the Roma people. 78. The Special Rapporteur is particularly alarmed at the failure of education and the teaching of history in confronting and eradicating deep root factors of racism and xenophobia. The strength of neo-Nazi groups and the impact of racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic political platforms in Russia today give rise to the question of the way education and history have failed in the work of memory and value systems of the evils of Nazism and the enormous human price paid by the Russian people in decisively breaking the military strength of Nazi Germany. Education also seems to have deeply failed in translating the legacy of “friendship amongst peoples” into a more profound culture of solidarity and knowledge and appreciation of the history, culture and civilizations of Africa, Asia and the Arab and Muslim worlds. Those failures are fertile ingredients of ignorance and prejudice, and root causes of racism and xenophobia. 79. The Special Rapporteur notes, however, the premises of a positive trend to combat the dynamic of racism and discrimination, particularly reflected in the reinforcement of criminal law provisions aimed at combating racism and discrimination, the increasing number of arrests and prosecutions for racially motivated acts, the adoption and consideration of measures to promote tolerance and encourage inter-ethnic dialogue, the significant statements recently made by several high-level officials acknowledging the reality of an increase of manifestations of racism and xenophobia - although only few of such officials recognize the depth and the root causes of those manifestations - and the necessity and urgency to combat them. V. RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR 80. The Government needs to officially and publicly acknowledge the existence and the depth of the trend of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia permeating the Russian society, and express, in the strongest and most determined terms, its political will to combat it. Particularly important is the condemnation of any racist or xenophobic action or discourse, including by political parties and the media. 81. The rich legacy and depth of human, cultural and religious multicultural interactions in the deepest layers of the Russian society has to be a strategic axis for the Government in linking the combat against racism and xenophobia with the promotion and reconstruction of multiculturalism of the Russian society, aiming at the strengthening of the democratic political process. To this effect, the Government should strongly promote by law, education and information, the multicultural identity of the Russian society. 82. As an immediate step, the Government should establish a commission of reflection composed of representatives of concerned State institutions (justice, police, education, culture), democratic political parties, civil society organizations, groups and communities