A/HRC/35/41 III. Thematic work of the mandate, in particular during the past six years 7. The thematic work of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance has spanned a wide breadth of issues, in accordance with the mandate that was initially established in 1993,1 ranging from the prevention of racism and racial discrimination to the phenomenon of xenophobia, from racism and discrimination in sports to their manifestations on the Internet. This section aims to take stock of this body of thematic work, including that carried out by previous mandate holders, as a number of the thematic issues that they addressed continue to be of relevance and in need of attention. A. A global understanding of xenophobia 8. In his 2016 report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur discussed the phenomenon of xenophobia, its conceptualization, trends and manifestations (A/HRC/32/50). That report was particularly relevant in the context of modern migration patterns, with close to 244 million people living outside their country of citizenship today, a 41 per cent increase since 2000.2 Xenophobia denotes “behaviour based on the idea that the other is foreign to or originates from outside the community or nation”.3 While there is a significant overlap between racism and xenophobia, xenophobia involves “attitudes, prejudices and behaviour that reject, exclude and often vilify persons, based on the perception that they are outsiders or foreigners to the community, society or national identity”.4 The mandate holders have made and continue to make important headway in differentiating between racism and xenophobia and understanding the causes of xenophobia in order to best prevent and eliminate the phenomenon. 9. Xenophobia has been extensively discussed in several reports by the mandate holders to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. In the reports submitted to the General Assembly in 1994 (A/49/677) and 1995 (A/50/476), the mandate holder addressed the issue of xenophobia and discrimination against migrant workers and immigrants. In the 1996 report (A/51/301), he considered the issue through the lens of the global immigration crisis, in which immigrants had become easy scapegoats of the economic crisis. In 2004, the mandate holder focused on the rise of isolationism worldwide and the increasing prevalence of xenophobic rhetoric in political discourse (A/59/329). The 2005 report to the General Assembly (A/60/283) and the 2006 report to the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2006/16) focused on racism in the fight against terrorism and highlighted how national policies were restricting the economic and social rights of communities affected by xenophobia. 10. In his most recent report to the Human Rights Council in 2016 (A/HRC/32/50), the Special Rapporteur addressed xenophobia and contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination against vulnerable groups such as migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples. He also considered the rise of political parties and movements with xenophobic platforms, as well as laws and policies glorifying historic injustices and fuelling contemporary forms of racism. 11. Xenophobia manifests itself in multiple forms that could be characterized according to the severity, scale and modality of expression. At the most severe, xenophobia could lead to the expulsion or eradication of population groups. At the other end, manifestations of xenophobia could range from bullying to mild hate speech. Between these extremes, there is a range of practices, including political scapegoating, administrative exclusion, selective 1 2 3 4 4 See Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/20. See http://data.unicef.org/topic/child-migration-and-displacement/migration/. See www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/internationalmigration/glossary/xenophobia/. Ibid.