E/CN.4/2005/18 page 5 racism, anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia from 11 to 14 November 2004 in Barcelona, Spain. The Commission, in its resolution 2004/6, asked the Special Rapporteur to prepare a report on Islamophobia, while the General Assembly, in its resolution 58/160, encouraged the Special Rapporteur to continue his work and expressed deep concern at the increase in Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianophobia. In light of the mandates entrusted to him, particularly the statement which the Secretary-General of the United Nations made at the United Nations seminar on anti-Semitism held at New York on 21 June 2004, calling on the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief to actively explore ways of combating anti-Semitism more effectively in the future, the Special Rapporteur considered it necessary, in order to help the Commission to explore these issues more fully, to organize a discussion about Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianophobia, focusing on their specific characteristics as well as the universality of their underlying causes. This seminar brought together some 30 high-level experts who presented and discussed their research papers on these three topics. The Special Rapporteur’s thoughts and recommendations, based on the outcome of that meeting and other sources of information, are presented in a separate report (E/CN.4/2005/19). B. Participation in the work of the General Assembly at its fifty-ninth session 5. The Special Rapporteur has submitted two reports to the General Assembly: an interim report (A/59/329) and a study on the question of political platforms which incite or encourage racial discrimination (A/59/330). The interim report focuses on the country visits which he undertook in 2004, the main meetings which he attended with a view to contributing to the implementation of the Durban Programme of Action, and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, particularly racism in sport, racist propaganda on the Internet and manifestations of racism associated with Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The Special Rapporteur recommended that the General Assembly should call on international sports bodies to take appropriate measures to eradicate racism in sport and cooperate to that end with the relevant human rights mechanisms, in particular the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Special Rapporteur. He also invited the General Assembly to alert Member States to the growing importance of the intellectual front in the fight against racism, discrimination and xenophobia, the need to devise an intellectual strategy for combating that phenomenon in the domain of ideas, concepts, images, perceptions and value systems which fuel the construction of a racist, discriminatory and xenophobic culture and mindset, and the importance of reinforcing the legal and political strategy against racism and discrimination. 6. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the high standard of the interactive dialogue that took place in the Third Committee of the General Assembly and the discussions which he enjoyed on that occasion with representatives of the Member States, who expressed concern about racism in sport and on the Internet but also stressed the positive role that sport and the Internet can play in the fight against racism, as well as the central role of education in combating racism. While the Special Rapporteur agrees that sport can be an excellent vehicle for combating racism, he cannot fail to observe, with concern, that sport remains the theatre for a high number of racist incidents (see paragraphs 29-38 below). In the international domain, States have yet to reach a political agreement on how to prevent the Internet being used for racist