A/HRC/30/56 overrepresented in prisons around the globe. More recently, there had been growing and vicious manifestations of racism, Afrophobia and xenophobia in many countries. 31. The High Commissioner also noted the importance of recommendations emanating from the Working Group, which had frequently highlighted many severe developmental challenges faced by people of African descent, including the prevalence of multiple, aggravated or intersecting forms of discrimination, adding to the burden of racial prejudice discrimination on other grounds, such as sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, social origin, property, birth, disability or other status. He noted with appreciation the Working Group’s joining hands with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to discuss the fight against racial discrimination faced by people of African descent on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The High Commissioner expressed the deep commitment of his Office in supporting efforts that helped to end racial discrimination against people of African descent and in realizing the rights of people of African descent. 32. Following the statement of the High Commissioner, the fourth panel of the session was held to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The first speaker on the panel, Pastor Murillo Martínez, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and focal point on people of African descent, discussed the prevalence of a number of myths about cultural freedom and development. Those myths had been used to justify the false dichotomy of development or diversity, which had allowed the construction of an economic enterprise the size of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas, which he claimed was still alive in many societies and had tangible consequences with regard to racism and racial discrimination, and limited development opportunities for social groups such as those of African descent. The Committee had exerted itself as a catalyst for preventing current and potential tensions, by periodically enabling a kind of intercultural dialogue within countries through its examination of Member States and their adherence to the Convention. He also delved into the application of general recommendation No. 34 (2011) on racial discrimination against people of African descent and the multifarious development challenges faced by people of African descent globally, which required global solutions. 33. Glenn Payot from Minority Rights Group International presented the work of the Group, an international NGO working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples in different parts of the world. He gave examples of its work in relation to Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic, who faced risks of statelessness; issues of violence and discrimination against black communities in Eastern Europe and people of African descent in India; awareness-raising programmes undertaken by Nubian groups in Egypt; and efforts to document the situation of black communities in Iraq and Yemen. He highlighted the importance of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in the Group’s work in the above-mentioned countries, and added that the Committee offered unique opportunities to address specific issues in great detail with relevant recommendations and to engage in discussions with a State on the details of its legislation, its policies and practices. The mandate of the Committee allowed it to focus on the most vulnerable segments of society, even when they were small in number. In the context of development and people of African descent, key challenges that remained were the lack of recognition, including the lack of data and statistics, the systemic and structural nature of underdevelopment and the need for collective action by rights holders to claim their rights. 34. Mr. Sunga, member of the Working Group, delivered a presentation on “Reflections on the African diaspora in Asia”. He provided an overview of the range of obstacles to 8