A/HRC/10/38 page 9 However, he also expressed his concern that these measures may remain on paper, owing to various barriers to access to education for a large number of Romani children because of the absence of identity documents. The Special Rapporteur called upon federal, entity and cantonal authorities to offer all children, regardless of their ethnic origin, an acceptable and adaptable education, respecting all cultural specificities. The Special Rapporteur also encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement expeditiously the recommendations made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child regarding discrimination suffered by minority children in Bosnia and Herzegovina (A/HRC/8/10/Add.4). The Special Rapporteur also sent communications on minority issues to the Russian Federation, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Nigeria and received replies from the Russian Federation and Slovenia (A/HRC/4/29/Add.1, A/HRC/8/10/Add.1). Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance 28. The Special Rapporteur regularly pays attention to minority issues in his country reports; for example, in the report on his visit to Mauritania (A/HRC/7/19/Add.6), he called attention to the negative effects, such as socio-economic marginalization, of continuing discriminatory practices of an ethnic and racial nature such as slavery, the caste system and the use of ethnicity as a political tool, and recommended that the Government establish an independent commission with the democratic participation of all political movements, affected communities, traditional religious and spiritual leaders and civil society actors to tackle these issues. In the report on his visit to the Dominican Republic (A/HRC/7/19/Add.5), he drew attention to persistent structural and systemic racism and discrimination against Dominicans of African origin, resulting in their failure to enjoy economic, social and cultural rights and in poverty, marginalization and exclusion. Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context 29. The Special Rapporteur has addressed housing issues of minority communities in several of his country mission reports. For example, in the report on his mission to Spain (A/HRC/7/16/Add.2), he urged all levels of the Government to address urgently the lack of housing and social services for, inter alia, the Romani communities, which is a result of the primacy of the discriminatory home ownership policy model. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders 30. In the mission report to Serbia, including Kosovo (A/HRC/7/28/Add.3), the Special Rapporteur recommended that the process of consultation with civil society and human rights defenders, including from Romani, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, should be institutionalized and systematized in order to ensure their active participation in legislative and policy decision-making.

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