E/CN.4/2006/19 page 13 the negative political, social or economic effects of racial inequality on people of African descent. He discussed the necessity for relevant political parties in many countries to adopt racial affirmative policies and programmes and stressed the importance for such parties to establish internal but relatively independent machineries to monitor and further the implementation of such policies or programmes. 53. He discussed the disenfranchisement of voters of African descent on the basis of their failure to register and their consequent absence from the voting rolls and considered such a factor as one that had historically grounded their political marginalization in some Diaspora countries. One way of ameliorating this problem would be for the relevant election commissions to automatically register every adult citizen, while allowing those who do not wish to be on that roll to opt-out in person. Such an approach could be of benefit to the struggle to integrate Afrodescendants in the political life of many Diaspora countries. Political parties should therefore be urged to support such automatic voter registration programmes. The improvement in the participation of people of African descent in political life could be brought about through measures such as the implementation of anti-racism educational activities, the establishment of electoral systems based on proportional representation as well as the adoption of policies and programmes to redress the incidence of political exclusion. 54. Some observers for NGOs pointed out that the political parties bear a crucial responsibility in promoting the political participation of people of African descent. An observer for a State argued that the current priority of the Working Group should be the study of the causes behind the discrimination against people of African descent as well as of the contribution made by them to the development of their respective communities. He also referred to the crucial role played by political parties with regard to the inclusion of people of African descent in political life. Ms. Roland provided information about the meeting of the caucus of Afro parliamentarians from the Latin America and Caribbean region in San José, Costa Rica, which aimed at exploring the possibility of creating a black congress of the Americas. Another observer for a State referred to the role of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in the context of the inclusion of people of African descent in political life. C. Possible modalities of action for ensuring an effective follow-up to the Working Group’s recommendations 55. In introducing the discussion of agenda item 7, the Chairperson presented a programme of work of the Working Group to further the implementation of its mandate (see annex III). He explained that the Working Group had so far organized its work through holding annual sessions around specific themes relevant to the situation of people of African descent, while consistently relying on the provisions contained in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, to propose measures and recommendations to the Commission. For three years the mechanism had adopted a thematic analytical focus. In June 2005, the Working Group conducted its first country visit. The mechanism had decided to reorganize the content of its future agenda to reflect findings from country visit s, complemented with data provided by States, national human rights institutions, intergovernmental organizations and different civil society actors on specific issues, thereby allowing for thorough examination of particular areas of concern by combining the lessons learned from such visits with discussions. The Working Group also decided to operationalize its analytical approach with active engagement in the development of guidelines