A/49/677 English Page 9 29. Xenophobia is defined as a rejection of outsiders. Heterophobia - that is, the fear of the Other - is only one of its dimensions. This feeling is based on the existence of persons resident in a country to which they do not belong. There are those who would distinguish xenophobia from racism, but in many cases the two phenomena are similar. Xenophobia is currently fed by such theories and movements as "national preference", "ethnic cleansing", by exclusions and by a desire on the part of communities to turn inward and reserve society’s benefits in order to share them with people of the same culture or the same level of development. Today we seem to be witnessing an institutionalization of xenophobia in the form of the measures taken by certain States against migrant workers and asylum-seekers. 30. Intolerance would seem to be a generic yet all-encompassing term. In fact, intolerance is not a complement to racism, as the wording of the mandate would seem to imply, but lies at the root of other phenomena. It is the refusal to accept the Other for what he is, with his differences, and the violation of his integrity, his person or even his property because of his differences which lead to racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. 31. In addition to the central theme which has just been clarified, the terms "negrophobia" and "anti-Semitism" which appear in Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/64 merit further discussion. 32. Negrophobia is the fear and rejection of Blacks. This feeling is associated with age-old prejudices against peoples of black African origin. The African slave trade and colonization have helped to forge racial stereotypes that elicit contempt and incomprehension and linger in the consciousness of Europeans in particular. 33. Blacks have long been seen, and in some circles are still seen, as uncultured savages, repugnant yet capable of being worked to death. 12/ Answerable to the colour of his skin, the African, owing to historical events associated with his encounter with other peoples, has come to symbolize in the consciousness of these peoples "an imaginary and illusorily inferior racial essence of the Negro". 13/ 34. One wonders here whether the contempt or condescension vis-à-vis Blacks observable in certain Asian or Arab and even Latin American countries comes from the negative image of Blacks disseminated by white racist colloquial speech or whether it is endogenous there. The Special Rapporteur would like to elicit some discussion on this delicate, not to say taboo, question and, if necessary, conduct some research in this area. 35. Without wishing to seem Manicheistic, the Special Rapporteur feels compelled to point out that racism is not a one-way street; racism begets racism and xenophobia - one need only look to the armed struggle against colonialism and such schools of thought as the Arab renaissance, Negritude (or the African personality), and the rehabilitation of indigenous cultures in several parts of the world. 14/ Meanwhile, the development of anti-White movements has been observed even in European countries. Nor can one overlook or underestimate the genuine fervour and humanitarian activities of the Société des Amis des Noirs or contemporary humanitarian efforts to promote the equal dignity of the human /...