A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 3 The Special Rapporteur formulates a number of recommendations, including the following: • State authorities should highlight their strong political will and commitment to fight all forms of racism and discrimination in Latvian society and strengthen their vigilance to face the new challenges that arise from growing migration, multiculturalism and identity tensions in full respect of democratic and human rights principles. • The Government should adopt holistic national legislation dealing with all forms of discrimination in a readily identifiable legal act. The Government should also adopt complementary legislation that unambiguously specifies criminal liability for all types of hate crimes. This would complement the legislative basis that exists in Latvia and, most importantly, ensure that no protection gaps remain. • The Government should revisit the existing requirements for naturalization with the objective of facilitating the granting of citizenship to non-citizens, implementing the commitments established by the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. • The role of the Special Assignment Minister for Social Integration and his Secretariat should be strengthened, both in terms of mandate and resources. In particular, transforming the Secretariat into a fully-fledged Ministry would not only enhance its effectiveness and voice, but symbolically reflect the will of the Government to tackle the issues of racism and discrimination with the ultimate aim of building a democratic, equal and interactive multiculturalism in Latvian society. • The Government should reinforce its National Action Plan “Roma in Latvia 2007-2009”, aiming at both promoting and respecting the cultural identity of Roma people and at eradicating their social and economic marginalization, in particular the poor educational attainment of Roma children and the drastically high unemployment rates among Roma citizens. • The Government and civil society should adopt an ethical and cultural strategy that addresses through the drafting of history, education, culture and information, the deepest roots of racism, xenophobia and intolerance and is built around the promotion of reciprocal knowledge of cultures and values, the interaction among the different communities and the link between the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination and the long-term construction of a democratic, equalitarian and interactive multicultural society.