A/HRC/56/68 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/36, in which the Council requested the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to submit to it an annual report. In the report, the Special Rapporteur describes her activities carried out under the mandate and explores the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and racial discrimination. 2. To inform the report, the Special Rapporteur issued a call for submissions addressed to States Members of the United Nations and other stakeholders, including civil society organizations, international organizations and national human rights institutions. The Special Rapporteur extends her sincere gratitude to all Member States and other stakeholders who submitted information. She has drawn upon the input that she received, in the preparation of the present report, and remains open to an ongoing dialogue with all relevant stakeholders on this important topic.1 II. Summary of activities 3. In October 2023, the Special Rapporteur presented her reports on combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and on online racist hate speech to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session.2 Between 31 October and 14 November 2023, the Special Rapporteur undertook a country visit, to the United States of America.3 4. The Special Rapporteur took part in the ninth session of the Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in August 2023. In January 2024, the Special Rapporteur attended the regional meeting for Asia and the Pacific on the International Decade for People of African Descent. In February 2024, she attended the International Conference on Food Justice from a Human Rights Perspective on the theme “Challenges of reality and future stakes”, held in Qatar. In April 2024, she attended the third session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, where she gave a presentation on overcoming systemic racism and historical harm in education. III. Artificial intelligence and racial discrimination 5. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur has chosen to focus on artificial intelligence and racial discrimination. This topic aligns with her strategic focus on the nexus between digital technologies and racial discrimination, as outlined in her report to the Human Rights Council, at its fifty-third session, setting out her strategic vision and initial priorities. 4 She builds on the work of the previous mandate holder on emerging digital technologies and racial discrimination 5 and responds to the interest of the Human Rights Council and the broader United Nations system in the governance of artificial intelligence. 6 6. Recent developments in generative artificial intelligence and the burgeoning application of artificial intelligence continue to raise serious human rights issues, including 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 The Special Rapporteur received research and analysis support from the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School and from the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic and Stanford Center for Racial Justice of Stanford Law School. She sincerely thanks all those involved for their invaluable support in the preparation of the report. A/78/302 and A/78/538. See A/HRC/56/68/Add.1. A/HRC/53/60, paras. 50–53. See A/75/590, A/HRC/44/57 and A/HRC/48/76. See, for example, High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, “Interim report: governing AI for humanity” (December 2023); Human Rights Council resolution 53/29; and General Assembly resolutions 78/213 and 78/265. GE.24-08849