E/CN.4/2006/19 page 5 persons of African descent living in Belgium. The experts visited Brussels, Liège, Namur and Mechelen. Belgium adopted the Principles for a Federal Plan of action against racism, antiSemitism and xenophobia in July 2004 and a 10-point national plan of action to fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, as a follow- up to the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action. 14. Mr. Frans underlined that the country visit to Belgium was of great importance to the Working Group. He acknowledged the cooperation, openness and goodwill of the Belgian authorities and encouraged other States to offer the same kind of cooperation to the mechanism. He referred to the existing problem faced in collecting statistical data on people of African descent, in particular in Europe, and the ongoing political dialogue on the issue of collecting disaggregated ethnic data. Ms. Moroianu Zlatescu and Mr. Jabbour also commended the importance of said visit. 15. The observer for Brazil referred to the reasons that brought Mr. Martins, the member of the Working Group, to resign and stressed that they should not raise any doubt about his commitment and support for the Working Group. Brazil, as a country with some 80 million citizens of African descent, reiterated its full support for the Working Group. 16. The observer for Chile commented on the importance of ensuring the participation of NGOs and United Nations agencies and offices in the sessions of the mechanism. He expressed the appreciation of his delegation for the working papers submitted by the members of the Working Group and suggested that, for future sessions, those documents should be circulated in advance so as to enable observers for States and NGOs to be prepared and to give more active and substantial inputs to discussions. 17. The observer for the Holy See recalled the importance of not forgetting about old forms of discrimination such as those against people of African descent, which have been so longlasting and so widespread as to be defined as pandemic. He submitted that discrimination was always linked to the visibility of recognition of differences and, where difference is very visible, as for people of African descent, the likelihood of discrimination is higher. People of African descent are often victims of double or multiple discrimination. 18. One observer for an NGO said that, when referring to the parameters for the implementation of rights and to specific plans and activities to ameliorate the situation of people of African descent, there was always the necessity to bear in mind the global dimension of the problems. Another commented on the limited number of NGOs participating in the session, reiterated the problem of lack of funding. 19. The Chairperson stressed that discrimination, exclusion and inequality reflected socially constructed identities and interests which, depending on the circumstances, operated along the lines of sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. People of African descent found themselves in a situation of poverty and disempowerment in many parts of the world where they were victims of stigma and discrimination and often exposed to multiple forms of discrimination. He then referred to the visit the Working Group undertook to Belgium, where it was able to identify areas where people of African descent found themselves in a disempowered situation vis-à-vis the mainstream