E/CN.4/1995/78/Add.1 page 4 ethnic communities and indigenous populations: health; education; housing; employment; political participation; criminal justice and the application of the death penalty; police violence; incitement to racial hatred; anti-Semitism; migrant workers; asylum seekers. 7. Bearing in mind the recommendations by the World Conference on Human Rights and the Commission on Human Rights regarding the need regularly and systematically to provide available information on human rights violations affecting women, the Special Rapporteur also decided that it was appropriate to direct his attention to the topic of racial discrimination against women. 8. During the mission, several of those with whom the Special Rapporteur spoke asked him also to address the issues of self-determination for ethnic minorities and indigenous populations and of racism reportedly practised in environmental matters. Although the Special Rapporteur believes that the second topic may fall within his purview, his competence does not extend to the first, i.e. the issue of the sovereignty and self-determination of the Amerindian populations, with representatives whom he none the less spoke a number of times; for this reason, the issue is not taken up in this report. 2/ B. The mission itself 9. Together with an official from the Centre for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur visited Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta (the detailed programme of the Special Rapporteur’s mission is set out in the annex). At each stage, he was assisted by an interpreter assigned to the mission by the United Nations Information Centre in Washington, and subsequently by United Nations Headquarters in New York. These cities were selected because of the Special Rapporteur’s concern to acquaint himself with the diverse historical, political, economic and sociological circumstances underlying the issues of racism and racial discrimination in the United States. While the Special Rapporteur does not claim that these brief visits enabled him to gain a full understanding of these problems in the United States, he believes that these four cities typify the socio-political and economic dynamics at the federal level. However, he regrets that he was unable to carry out the visits which numerous non-governmental organizations urged him to make to the Indian reservations along the United States-Mexico border, in Mississippi and in Alabama, where there are problems that come within his mandate. 3/ 10. During his stay, the Special Rapporteur had the honour to be invited to an extremely fruitful working lunch at the State Department with high-ranking officials and was received by Mr. Joel Spiro, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Mrs. Nancy Ely Raffle, Deputy Secretary of State for Human Rights. The Rapporteur was also received by Mr. Dennis Hayashi, Director of the Civil Rights Department of the Department of Health and Human Services; Mr. James Lassiter, Mr. Ralph Thomas and Mr. Bo Cooper, officials of the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service; Mr. Policarpio Marmolejos, Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney-General for Civil Rights; Mrs. Ada E. Deer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, and Mrs. Barbara Brooks, Deputy Director for Public Affairs, United States