A/HRC/35/41
I. Introduction
1.
The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/35.
In the first part of the report, the Special Rapporteur provides a summary of the activities
undertaken during the period under review and an overview of the thematic work
undertaken by the mandate over the more than 20 years since it was created, in particular by
the current mandate holder, as this will be his final report to the Human Rights Council.
The Special Rapporteur highlights the importance of the thematic issues that he has
discussed and their significance in countering racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
other forms of related intolerance.
2.
In the second part of the report, the Special Rapporteur presents an initial analysis of
the challenges relating to combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination in the current
context of countering terrorism. He considers how hate speech and measures taken by some
Governments to counter terrorism may fuel racism, xenophobia and discrimination against
persons or groups owing to their ethnic origin, religion or migration status. The Special
Rapporteur will also consider key legal and policy measures taken at the national, regional
and international levels to counter racism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination in
the context of countering terrorism and highlight a few examples of good practices aimed at
eliminating racism, xenophobia and discrimination in that context.
II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur
A.
Country visits
3.
The Special Rapporteur would like to thank the Government of Morocco for
agreeing to a visit. He hopes that his repeated requests to visit India, Japan, South Africa
and Thailand, as well as his requests to visit Algeria, Botswana, Nepal, Poland, Slovakia,
the Sudan, Tunisia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the
United States of America will receive positive responses. The Special Rapporteur urges the
States that have not yet responded positively to his visit requests to do so.
4.
The Special Rapporteur visited Argentina from 16 to 23 May 2016 (see
A/HRC/35/41/Add.1), Australia from 28 November to 5 December 2016 (see
A/HRC/41/Add.2) and Fiji from 7 to 12 December 2016 (see A/HRC/35/41/Add.3). He
expresses his gratitude to the Governments of those countries for their full support and
cooperation in the preparation of and during his visits.
B.
Other activities
5.
The Special Rapporteur participated in the High-level thematic debate on human
rights convened by the President of the General Assembly on 12 and 13 July 2016 in New
York. On 19 September 2016, he addressed the High-level meeting on addressing large
movements of refugees and migrants hosted by the General Assembly during its seventyfirst session at the round table entitled “Global compact for safe, regular and orderly
migration: towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieving
full respect for the human rights of migrants”.
6.
On 17 March 2017, the Special Rapporteur participated in a panel discussion on
racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration, held during
the thirty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. On 21 March 2017, he
was a keynote speaker at the commemorative plenary meeting of the General Assembly in
New York to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which
focused on the state of racial discrimination worldwide.
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