A/65/295
I. Introduction
1.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance was created by the
Commission on Human Rights in its resolution 1993/20 and further refined in its
resolution 1994/64. In March 2008, the Human Rights Council reviewed,
rationalized and improved the mandate. As a result, the Human Rights Council
adopted resolution 7/34, which extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for
a period of three years and set out the terms of reference in paragraphs 2 and 3 of
the resolution.
2.
The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution
64/148 on global efforts for the total elimination of racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance and the comprehensive implementation of and
follow-up to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
3.
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur gives an overview of the
activities carried out under the mandate since the submission of his previous report
to the Assembly (A/64/271). Section II is devoted to thematic issues addressed by
the Special Rapporteur in annual reports, conferences, seminars and other meetings.
Those issues include racism and conflict; incitement to racial or religious hatred; the
situation of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers; the collection of ethnically
disaggregated data; and racism and sports. In section III, the Special Rapporteur
refers to country visits undertaken in the framework of his mandate. Finally, the
Special Rapporteur presents a number of conclusions and recommendations relating
to the above-mentioned thematic issues.
II. Thematic issues addressed by the Special Rapporteur in
annual reports, conferences, seminars and other meetings
A.
Racism and conflict
4.
In his annual report submitted at the fourteenth session of the Human Rights
Council (A/HRC/14/43), the Special Rapporteur examined how conflict and racism,
racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance interrelate. As stated in the
Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance are among the root causes of many internal and
international conflicts and are also very often one of its consequences. 1
5.
To prevent the eruption of a conflict, the Special Rapporteur emphasized the
need to identify early warning signs that help to recognize situations which might
lead to conflict. In a manner complementary to the tools developed by the
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Special Adviser on
the Prevention of Genocide, the Special Rapporteur called upon all stakeholders to
give due attention to certain issues, such as the way in which the concept of socalled “national identity” is debated within a given country, the presence of
socio-economic discrimination against members of specific groups of the
population, as well as political manipulation of racist or nationalist ideology.
Indeed, those issues, if dealt with in an inappropriate manner, might contribute to
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See A/CONF.189/12 and Corr.I, chap. I, preamble and para. 20.
3