A/HRC/62/55/Add.1 V. Conclusions and recommendations 67. The Special Rapporteur recognizes that Austria has in place legal protections against discrimination. She also took note of the work of many federal and Länder entities on addressing different elements of racial discrimination. Nevertheless, during her visit, the Special Rapporteur received multiple reports of deeply entrenched and pervasive racial hierarchies within Austrian society. She was struck by the acceptability of ethno-nationalistic notions that fundamentally link being Austrian with being white, despite racial and ethnic diversity being a long-standing feature of, and strength within, Austrian society. In addition, the Special Rapporteur was concerned by barriers to societal dialogues that fully acknowledge racism and its consequences on racially and ethnically marginalized groups. She remains concerned that such attitudes and biases are leading to the harmful othering of those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. This has seemingly contributed to a surge in racism and exclusion, including structural and institutional forms of such discrimination. 68. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur heard from many stakeholders that there has been a recent resurgence of right-wing populism and an increase in its political representation at the federal and Länder levels. She is deeply concerned that this growth in right-wing populism will exacerbate already high levels of racial discrimination within Austria. 69. The Special Rapporteur is of the opinion that several factors, including a lack of racially and ethnically disaggregated data, the absence of a comprehensive and shared definition of racial discrimination and inadequate racial and ethnic representation in government and legislative bodies, are impeding the approach of Austria to combating racial discrimination. The Special Rapporteur gained the impression that there is a focus on reacting to individual complaints of racial discrimination, sometimes at the expense of preventive work and addressing structural forms of racism. Linked to this concern, the Special Rapporteur found the landscape of equality bodies to be highly complex, risking fragmentation and duplication of work, as well as confusion among those seeking remedy. She received information about increasing austerity in public spending, which underscores the need to further develop a targeted and efficient approach to achieving substantive racial equality. 70. To achieve this, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Austria: (a) Simplify and harmonize its non-discrimination and equality provisions and ensure comprehensive and equal protection against all grounds for discrimination, across all societal domains and within all Länder; (b) Ensure that the equality and non-discrimination legal framework includes the specific recognition and prohibition of multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination; (c) Undertake a process of reviewing, consolidating and strengthening the mandates of the different equality bodies at the federal and Länder levels; (d) Develop and publish an overarching and comprehensive national action plan on all forms of racism. This action plan should offer a shared definition of racism and racial discrimination that captures the process of racialization that is inherent to racism and racial discrimination and that includes intersectional, systemic and structural racism; (e) Consider the development of comprehensive special measures, in line with the obligations of Austria as a State Party to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to more effectively ensure racial representation across society and to advance substantive racial equality; (f) Ensure the development of nationally appropriate systems for the collection and analysis of racially disaggregated data, guided by the principles of selfidentification and informed consent, alignment with human rights standards and 17