E/CN.4/1998/79 page 7 contemplated undertaking a mission to that country in August 1997. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights/Centre for Human Rights had approached the Permanent Mission of South Africa in Geneva to that end; a reply from the South African Government dated 29 October 1997 reached the Office of the High Commissioner on 11 November 1997; however, the Special Rapporteur had already submitted his report to the General Assembly on 6 November 1997. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the opportunity to visit South Africa in February, as proposed by the South African Government. III. SIGNIFICANT EVENTS OCCURRING IN THE FIELDS COVERED BY THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR'S MANDATE 17. A number of events or meetings, both official and unofficial, have been organized on subjects falling specifically within the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, namely contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. A distinction should be made between seminars or proceedings of official United Nations bodies and those organized by other international organizations. 18. Specific mention should be made of three seminars deserving of interest from the standpoint of the Special Rapporteur's mandate. The Special Rapporteur either attended those meetings or received the relevant documents. A. United Nations Seminar on immigration, racism and racial discrimination (May 1997) 19. In the context of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (General Assembly resolution 49/146, annex, para. 7 (e)), the Office of the High Commissioner/Centre for Human Rights organized a seminar on immigration, racism and racial discrimination in Geneva from 5 to 9 May 1997. The purpose of the seminar was to examine the contemporary forms and manifestations of racism and racial discrimination which immigrants must face. The Special Rapporteur did not take part in the proceedings of the seminar; however, he received the texts of some of the presentations made there. 20. In his presentation on globalization and immigration, 1/ Mr. Jean-Pierre Paige, Officer-in-Charge of international trade union relations and activities in the Confédération générale du travail (France), commenting on the restrictive, discriminatory policies of the industrialized countries of the North towards foreign workers from the South, said in particular: “The European Union advocated the free movement of labour, while each country of the Community attempted to restrict immigration, particularly from outside the Community. The United Kingdom continued to give preference to immigrants from the Commonwealth. As for France, migrants from the former colonies were always admitted more easily, then preference began to be given to migrants from countries whose political regimes seemed more favourable. There were also, in France's case, migrants from the overseas departments and territories, whose numbers were not included in the statistics on aliens. The Federal Republic of Germany gave preference to Turkish workers, then to Yugoslav workers (mainly Croats) and to asylum seekers from the Eastern European countries, before finally adopting more restrictive legislation. The United States also pursued an immigration policy guided primarily by its