A/HRC/17/40/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. At the invitation of the Government, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance visited Singapore from 21 to 28 April 2010. 2. During his mission, the Special Rapporteur held meetings with representatives of the Government and members of the legislative and judicial branches, in order to obtain their views concerning racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in Singapore, the adequacy of the existing legal and institutional human rights framework and the programmes and policies adopted by the authorities to fight these problems. A list of official meetings held during the visit is contained in the appendix. 3. Apart from the agenda with the Government and State institutions, the Special Rapporteur also had meetings with representatives of civil society, including community members, academics, lawyers and other organizations and private individuals. 4. The Special Rapporteur wishes to express his sincere gratitude to the Government of Singapore for its full cooperation and openness in the preparation and conduct of his visit, including for the organization of a rich programme. The Government’s readiness to organize a last-minute visit to the Changi Prison was much appreciated. He also wishes to convey his deep appreciation to all civil society stakeholders who provided him with information and assistance throughout the visit. The Special Rapporteur was particularly honoured to be the first special procedures mandate holder invited to visit the country in nine years. He hopes that many more special procedures will follow after his visit. 5. In order to assess the main challenges that lie ahead in the fight against racism and xenophobia in Singapore, the Special Rapporteur brought to the attention of the authorities some key concerns, including those expressed by civil society actors. In this regard, he aimed to better understand the Government’s responses to those challenges and, in addition, how it identified existing problems and devised solutions thereto. The conclusions and recommendations in the present report are based on these rich exchanges with Singaporebased interlocutors and the Special Rapporteur’s own analysis. He hopes that they will contribute to finding concrete ways and means of addressing the challenges raised in the present report in an effective and human rights-compliant manner. 6. The present report is structured as follows: in chapter II, the Special Rapporteur briefly refers to the general background. He then examines the legal and institutional human rights framework to combat racism in chapter III. In chapter IV, the Special Rapporteur addresses a number of key issues in the fight against racism, presenting the views shared with the Special Rapporteur both by government officials and civil society. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented in chapter V. II. General background A. Geography and history 7. Singapore consists of one main island and about 60 small ones, covering a land area of 682.7 km2. It is located between Malaysia and Indonesia, being separated from them by the Straits of Johor and the Straits of Singapore, respectively. 8. In 1963, Singapore (formerly a British colony) joined the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and Borneo to form Malaysia. In 1964, deadly communal riots erupted between the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Malays. Over thirty lives were lost and hundreds of people 4