E/CN.4/2006/19 page 10 active role in the design and implementation of policies and programmes that affect their lives. Benchmarks and/or empowerment indicators should be developed to measure and monitor progress and ensure that gains were not eroded or lost over time. 38. Sihaka Tsemo, Head of the OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa, also spoke on the empowerment of women of African descent. She discussed the lack of visibility of the contribution of women of African descent to history. She highlighted the various forms of discrimination from which women of African descent suffer, and the challenges they were exposed to - land issues, access to natural resources, self-determination. She recalled the Millennium Declaration, which specifically acknowledged the plight of Africa and of people of African descent and said that the advancement of gender equality among people of African descent was necessary to combat poverty, hunger and diseases. 39. Ms. Tsemo highlighted the need for States to undertake additional measures in translating into action the recommendations of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. There is the need to collect appropriate data to ensure that women of African descent were targeted as a specific group which had specific needs; to develop affirmative-action policies and programmes for women of African descent; and to implement gender-sensitive policies. Government s should adopt and strengthen their legislative measures prohibiting and eliminating discrimination against, inter alia, women of African descent and should ensure their implementation. Civil society also played an important role in lobbying on behalf of women of African descent to ensure that they were at the centre of any development approach. 40. Albertine Tshibilondi Ngoyi of the Brussels Centre of African Studies discussed the situation of women of African descent living in the diaspora through the example of Belgium. She suggested that intensification of investments in training, information and awareness-raising, inter-cultural understanding, employment and the formation of associations of women of African descent, were tools for the elimination of discrimination against women of African descent and for their empowerment. She insisted on education and training as preconditions for the empowerment of women of African descent. 41. An observer for an NGO commented that one of the ways of empowering women of African descent was to enhance efforts in the fight against poverty so as to foster inclusion. Another submitted that structural racism was linked mainly to poverty and stressed the importance of data collection disaggregated by sex and race so as to identify the most disadvantaged groups in societies and to target them through appropriate policies. Various observers for States stressed the importance of collecting statistical data to identify social inequalities and their links with gender and ethnicity. 42. An observer for one State discussed the importance of gender mainstreaming in actions, programmes and policies aimed at fighting racial discrimination. He recommended the adoption by Governments of plans of action with a gender dimension, the elaboration of gender-specific guidelines and indicators and the use of gender-disaggregated data. He further stressed the importance of periodic reviews of programmes to assess progress made in addressing racism and gender inequalities at the national level. The desirability of supporting anti-racism awarenessraising activities and training was also discussed.