A/79/316 Rapporteur notes that, due to the inclusion of the words “such as”, the list of attributes provided is non-exhaustive and includes ethnicity or race. 17. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) provides a more express reference to the obligation of States to take special measures and the need to consider intersectionality in doing so, including that States should take effective measures and, where appropriate, special measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions. Particular attention should be paid to the rights and special needs of Indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities. 12 18. In the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (1992), the importance of special measures is referred to, albeit without the explicit use of the term “special measures”. It is clarified in article 8, paragraph 3, thereof that “measures taken by States to ensure the effective enjoyment of the rights set forth in the present Declaration shall not prima facie be considered contrary to the principle of equality contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. 19. At the regional level, it is recognized in both the Inter-American Convention against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance and the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance that the principle of equality presupposes an obligation on the part of States to adopt special measures, 13 and it is stated in both conventions that special measures should not be deemed discrimination. 14 It is reaffirmed in Protocol No. 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention on Human Rights) that the principle of non-discrimination does not prevent States from taking measures in order to promote full and effective equality, provided that there is an objective and reasonable justification for those measures. 15 C. Special measures to combat systemic racism 20. Special measures are an important tool that States must use to ensure the adequate development and protection of certain racial or ethnic groups, or individuals belonging to them, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Special measures are also crucial to combat systemic racism, which exists globally. Systemic racism can be understood to be the operation of a complex, interrelated system of laws, policies, practices and attitudes in State institutions, the private sector and societal structures that, combined, result in direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional, de jure or de facto discrimination, distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference on the basis of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin. Systemic racism often manifests itself in pervasive racial stereotypes, prejudice and bias and is frequently rooted in histories and legacies of enslavement, the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and colonialism. 16 Contemporary manifestations of racial discrimination cannot be understood in a historical vacuum. The impact of the harmful legacies of colonialism and enslavement on contemporary forms and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including those relating to civil, __________________ 12 13 14 15 16 8/24 General Assembly resolution 61/295, annex, art. 21, para. 2. Preambular para. 4 in both conventions. Art. 1, para. 4, and art. 1, para. 5, respectively. Preambular para. 3. A/HRC/47/53, para. 9. 24-15073