A/HRC/14/43/Add.2 B. International human rights instruments 7. At the international level, Germany is a State party to the core international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, Germany is not a party to the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. 8. At the regional level, Germany has ratified the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Social Charter, the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Convention on Nationality. Germany has yet to ratify Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights on general non-discrimination and the Convention for the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at the Local Level. C. Methodology 9. The Special Rapporteur carried out extensive meetings with authorities from the executive, legislative and judiciary branches, both at the federal and local levels of government, in order to obtain their views concerning racism and xenophobia in Germany, the adequacy of the existing legal framework and the programmes and policies adopted by the authorities to fight these problems. Additionally, meetings with independent institutions, civil society organizations, associations representing minority groups, religious communities and individual victims of discrimination were organized. 10. In order to better assess the main challenges that lie ahead in the fight against racism in Germany, the Special Rapporteur brought to the attention of the authorities some key concerns expressed by civil society and independent institutions. In this regard, he aimed to better understand the response of the Government to those challenges and, in addition, how the authorities identified existing problems and devised solutions thereto. The conclusions in this report are based on these rich exchanges with interlocutors in Germany and his own analysis of the literature. 11. Chapter III of this report analyses the legal and institutional framework adopted by Germany to combat racism. Chapter IV addresses a number of key areas in the fight against racism, presenting the views shared with the Special Rapporteur both by Government officials and civil society representatives. This is followed in chapter V by an analysis of the situation by the Special Rapporteur and in chapter VI by his recommendations to the Government. III. Legal and institutional framework A. Constitutional and criminal provisions 12. A general equal treatment clause is contained in article 3 of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, which declares that “all persons shall be equal before the law” and that “no person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith, or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability”. 13. The Criminal Code contains more specific prohibitions with regard to racism. In particular, section 130 labelled “Agitation of the People” contains robust provisions against GE.10-11624 5