E/CN.4/2005/18 page 8 B. Hierarchy of forms of discrimination and intellectual justification of racism and xenophobia 13. The hierarchization of different forms of racism, discrimination and xenophobia, and thus of the priority and urgency of dealing with one at the expense of the other, represents a particularly serious setback for the fight against racism and discrimination. While there is no question that each form of racism and discrimination has its own ontological, historical, geographical and cultural characteristics, they all share, in the Special Rapporteur’s view, deeper roots that form part of a universal culture and mindset of racism and discrimination. The hierarchization of forms of racism and discrimination challenges and seriously undermines the notion of the universality of racism, diminishing the effectiveness of, and commitment to, efforts to combat it. 14. This hierarchization is contrary to the principle of the indivisibility and inseparability of human rights, which was reaffirmed by the 1973 World Conference on Human Rights in the Vienna Declaration, paragraph 5 of which reads: “All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated. The international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing, and with the same emphasis.” According to that principle, human rights form part of a whole and are inseparable. Hence, any violation is important in and of itself and there must be no hierarchy of the rights guaranteed under international law. This principle confirms that all forms of xenophobia or racial discrimination must be treated equally and that there can be no ranking of their individual importance. 15. However, this hierarchy, often the result of historical contexts which are specific to each form of discrimination, either an opportunistic political manipulation of the fight against racism or the result of a victim mentality, is found to different degrees in all regions and affects all forms of racism and discrimination. The phenomenon is further exacerbated by the process of the intellectual legitimization of racism and xenophobia which is unfolding before us. The increasingly overt trend towards intellectual legitimization of racism and its spread not only through the media, but more particularly literature and the human sciences, shows an intellectual and scientific community in retreat from its commitment to the fight against racism, discrimination and xenophobia. A significant example of this intellectual trend of creating or justifying discrimination is Samuel Huntington’s new book Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity.1 Following on from his previous book on the clash of civilizations, the central argument of this work is the assertion that the presence of “Latinos” and “Latino” culture in the United States of America poses a threat to the American identity. 16. The characterization of immigration as a threat to national identity goes hand in hand with the perception of globalization as a process of cultural homogenization. They both produce, in political discourse, intellectual thought and the public imagination, ghetto identities and identity siege mentalities, whose construction and justification lead to xenophobia, racism and discrimination. At the heart of these processes, the rejection of diversity and cultural, ethnic or religious pluralism fuels rejection of, and discrimination against, non-nationals, immigrants and refugees, but also nationals from different ethnic, cultural or religious backgrounds or minority groups.