A/58/313 13. In order to contribute to the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the Special Rapporteur was an active participant in the following meetings organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): • Regional consultation for Africa on the topic of “Africa and the scourge of racism, discrimination and xenophobia: vision and strategy for an effective follow-up to the Durban Conference”, held in Dakar from 13 to 15 February 2003. This meeting of experts and representatives of the five African subregions provided an opportunity to discuss the various forms of racism which threaten African societies, compare experiences of combating these scourges in Africa and set priorities for UNESCO’s new strategy to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. The participants stressed that it was also necessary to combat discrimination within countries inherited from certain cultural traditions, such as the caste system, and new forms of discrimination such as the stigmatization of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the rise of xenophobia in Africa, as demonstrated by recent conflicts. • Regional consultation for Europe on the topic of “Combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Europe”, held in Moscow on 20 and 21 March 2003. Participants discussed the role of States in that struggle; model legislative, administrative and legal mechanisms to be introduced; statistical indicators to be developed in order to better assess the prevalence of discrimination; and the type of partnership to be developed between Governments and non-governmental organizations working in the area of human rights, especially in the “new democracies” of Europe. During that consultation, the Special Rapporteur placed particular emphasis on two key factors in the problem of racism in Europe: on the one hand, the overriding influence on attitudes, the imagination and perceptions exercised by deeply rooted remnants of the scorn for other peoples’ cultures which provided the ideological legitimation of colonization; and, on the other, the rise of new forms of legal, social, cultural and economic discrimination against foreigners, refugees and immigrants, partly as a result of political and media pressure from xenophobic political parties. • International expert seminar on the topic of renewed efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination and intolerance, held in Osaka, Japan, on 4 and 5 June 2003. This meeting brought together experts who had participated in the Durban process and in the various regional consultations organized by UNESCO and/or the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the authors of UNESCO studies on various aspects of racial discrimination and xenophobia. Its purpose was to endorse the results of those studies and to discuss the new UNESCO strategy in that area, an outline of which was submitted to the participants for comments and suggestions. The Special Rapporteur presented to the seminar a study on the cultural identity and education of people of African descent and drew attention to the numerous reports which he had received concerning acts of discrimination against Africans in some Asian countries. 14. During his visit to Japan, the Special Rapporteur had the opportunity to learn about the economic, social, cultural and educational situation of the Buraku 8