A/58/313 Nations system in order to further enhance their effectiveness and mutual cooperation. He was also requested to collect information from all concerned, to respond effectively to reliable information that became available to him, to follow up on communications and country visits, and to seek the views and comments of Governments and reflect them, as appropriate, in his reports. In the same resolution, the General Assembly called upon States to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur and to give serious consideration to his requests to visit their countries so as to enable him to fulfil his mandate fully and effectively. It also urged Member States to consider implementing the recommendations contained in the reports of the Special Rapporteur and requested the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with all the necessary human and financial assistance to carry out his mandate efficiently, effectively and expeditiously and to enable him to submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session. 5. This report has been prepared pursuant to that resolution, the principal provisions of which have been cited above. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur A. Participation in the work of the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session 6. From 23 to 29 March 2003, the Special Rapporteur participated in the work of the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session. He introduced his report on the situation of Muslim and Arab peoples in various parts of the world in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 (E/CN.4/2003/23) and his general report on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, in accordance with resolution 2002/68 of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2003/24). 7. The Special Rapporteur described his work in the context of the commitment, made by the international community at Durban, to give high priority to combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including the suffering, violence and inequality which these scourges continue to cause. He therefore felt that the reports which he submitted should be specifically designed to provide concrete, objective proof of this commitment and of the disturbing resurgence of the scourges of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia throughout the world. 8. In particular, he stressed the importance of key factors in discriminatory cultures, attitudes and practices. These may include isolationism and the ghetto mentality resulting from the following: the belief that globalization reduces everything to a common denominator and denies individual characteristics; immigration and the presence, for historical, economic or political reasons, of people from other countries or cultures; an ideological rejection and non-recognition of cultural pluralism as a reality; the pernicious intellectual legitimation of racism and racial discrimination; the promotion of a culture of fear through language which focuses excessively on security and counter-terrorism; and the worldwide spread of racist and xenophobic propaganda through the organized use of new communication technologies such as the Internet. 6