A/49/677 English Page 25 electoral defeats inflicted on extreme right-wing parties, as in the case of the latest German elections, are a response to racial discrimination. 120. Furthermore, many non-governmental organizations and university institutions are preparing to study the situation of foreigners in general and of immigrant workers in particular and the manifestations of xenophobia in Europe to ensure that concerted measures are taken to combat racism and racial discrimination by promoting tolerance and understanding among the different communities in Europe. One example is the European Capitals Universities Network, which has formed a working group at the University of Stockholm to consider "Universities against racism and xenophobia". 121. Most Governments have taken steps to prevent and combat the phenomena analysed in this report. There are constitutional provisions, laws and regulations in this area. 122. On 25 September 1994, Switzerland adopted by referendum an anti-racist law prohibiting all manifestations of racism, all revisionism and denial of the Holocaust, and all crimes against humanity. In December 1992, Germany outlawed several "neo-Nazi rock" songs and groups encouraging racism, genocide and violence against foreigners. It also prohibited political movements and parties with racist ideologies that preach xenophobia and engage in violence (for example, violent attacks on foreigners or the use of incendiary bombs). Educational programmes that teach tolerance and fight racism and racial discrimination in the schools and among the general population are being instituted. Norway offers an outstanding example of this. 123. At the regional level, in October 1993 in Vienna, the Heads of State and Government of the States members of the Council of Europe adopted a plan of action to combat racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance. VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS A. Conclusions 124. The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank the Governments and non-governmental organizations mentioned above, as well as the International Labour Organization, also mentioned, for their active cooperation and the wealth of excellent information supplied to him, which has been confirmed by material collected from the press and specialized periodicals. 125. These different sources show racism and racial discrimination to be persistent phenomena periodically manifested in the form of xenophobia, negrophobia, anti-Semitism and anti-Arab sentiment. The result of often latent racism, these manifestations are triggered and sustained by the rebirth or recrudescence of extreme right-wing nationalist, neo-fascist ideologies. They are caused by the economic crisis shaking the industrialized societies, which are stricken by recession and unemployment, and by the crisis in European cultural values, a model of civilization that sought to impose itself on the contemporary world. The result is fear and distrust of the outsider - the Other - who often comes from the South and is an easy scapegoat because he wants /...