E/CN.4/1997/71 page 4 8. Still, some emphasis should be placed on the use of modern communications technology, including the Internet, as a vehicle for incitement to racial hatred and xenophobia against Arabs, Blacks and, in particular, Jews. Racist messages tend to proliferate on the worldwide computer network, the Internet, and as things currently stand no national legislation can check the spread. 4 There has also been a resurgence of claims that the Nazi holocaust never took place, and of the theory that not all races are equal. I. A. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR IN 1996 Participation in the fifty-first session of the General Assembly 9. In his statement to the Third Committee, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that, worldwide, the question of racism and racial discrimination remains troubling and is crystallizing around the current immigration crisis. Increasingly restrictive and discriminatory legislation is encroaching on individuals' freedom of movement and residence and their right to live with their families. Furthermore, racist ideology is being spread using the most up-to-date information technologies, and racist violence is manifesting itself in arson at places of worship and in the desecration of ethnic minorities' cemeteries. 10. The delegation of Singapore bitterly attacked the Special Rapporteur for the way he described the discrimination that migrant workers in some Asiatic countries suffer, while stating that “Singapore has very strict laws. Some may even call them harsh laws ...”. As regards the sentencing to death and execution in 1995 of Flor Contemplación, a housemaid in Singapore, 5 the representative of Singapore stated that “there is an elementary factual error. Flor Contemplación was never accused of murdering her employer. She was charged, tried and convicted of murdering a fellow Filipina, another domestic servant and her ward, a four-year-old Singapore boy”. He added that “while relations between the Philippines and Singapore did deteriorate for a period from March 1995 after the execution of Flor Contemplación, the matter did not end there. Relations between the two countries were restored in the same year”. The Special Rapporteur has taken note of this statement. 11. Such invective aside, the General Assembly once again expressed its support for the Special Rapporteur's work, requesting the Secretary-General to provide him, without any further delay, and like the other Special Rapporteurs, with all necessary human and financial assistance to enable him to carry out his mandate efficiently and diligently. B. Missions to the field and sundry observations 12. The Special Rapporteur undertook two missions: first to Colombia, between 28 June and 15 July, and secondly to Kuwait, between 16 and 28 June 1996. The purpose of his mission to Colombia was to investigate the situation of the indigenous and Afro-Colombian population groups. His visit to Kuwait was concerned with the status of migrant workers, in particular domestic servants, and the Bidun - the people “without papers” or “without nationality”. The reports on these two missions are available to the Commission (E/CN.4/1997/71/Add.1 and 2).