A/HRC/38/53 geographic bounds to include neo-Nazi organizations in countries beyond Europe and North America.9 10. For many years, neo-Nazis were largely out of the mainstream, finding safe havens on the Internet or in small local and generally private gatherings. Neo-Nazi organizations were generally marginal and lacked political efficacy. However, in recent years, the rise of white nationalism and right-wing populist parties around the world — embracing hate speech towards specific groups of people that are generally despised by neo-Nazi groups — has permitted neo-Nazism to grow in relevance. 10 Media reports suggest that links between American and European neo-Nazis are strong and growing stronger. With good reason, the growing phenomenon of websites run by neo-Nazi and skinhead organizations is of increasing interest and concern to European institutions. Unfortunately, it remains the case that neo-Nazism is more than just the glorification of a past movement; it is a contemporary movement with strong vested interests in racial inequality and an investment in gaining broad support for its false claims of racial superiority. III. Applicable legal framework 11. In the fight against the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other similar practices fuelling racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, the Special Rapporteur wishes to recall that States have the following obligations. 12. As mentioned in the preamble to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, States have proclaimed with conviction that any doctrine of superiority based on racial differentiation is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and that there is no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or in practice, anywhere. Under article 5 of the Convention, States have undertaken to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right for everyone to enjoy various listed rights. According to article 4 of the Convention, States must condemn all propaganda and all organizations that are based on ideas or theories of superiority of one race or group of persons of one colour or ethnic origin, or that attempt to justify or promote racial hatred and discrimination in any form. Under this provision, States have also undertaken to adopt immediate and positive measures designed to eradicate all incitement to, or acts of, such discrimination. Finally, article 4 also requires States to declare as offences punishable by law: all dissemination of ideas based on racial superiority or hatred; incitement to racial discrimination; all acts of violence or incitement to such acts against any race or group of persons of another colour or ethnic origin; and the provision of any assistance to racist activities, including the financing thereof. 13. The Special Rapporteur also wishes to remind States of their commitment under article 87 of the Durban Declaration to move forward in taking action against and condemning organizations that disseminate ideas based on racial superiority or hatred. 14. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees the fundamental right to hold opinions without interference. Significantly, article 20 of the Covenant provides a vital clarification of the scope of the human right to freedom of expression, namely that any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law. 15. While recalling the relevant legal framework, the Special Rapporteur wishes to also reiterate that revisions of the Holocaust and attempts to falsify history not only contribute to 9 10 See, for example, Marcos Chor Maio, “Against racism: search for an alliance between AfroBrazilians and Brazilian Jews in the early 1990s”, Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe, vol. 10, No. 2 (2014). Available at http://eial.tau.ac.il/index.php/eial/article/view/1009/1044. Jacqueline Z. Wilson, “Racist and political extremist graffiti in Australian prisons, 1970s to 1990s”, Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, vol. 47, No. 1 (2008). In one North American country, within the white supremacist movement, neo-Nazi groups saw the greatest growth of 22 per cent, rising from 99 to 121 groups. Camus, “Neo-Nazism in Europe”, p. 238. 5