A/HRC/11/36/Add.2 page 20 communities in order to encourage community partnership in the full acceptance of the historical truth of discrimination, and of the sensitive task of creating a feeling of belonging to one nation. 80. On the legislative front, the Special Rapporteur recommends the insertion of specific provisions on racial and ethnic discrimination in the Criminal Code. Notwithstanding the existence of provisions proclaiming the principles of equality in various items of legislation, including the Constitution, he strongly recommends the adoption of comprehensive legislation against all forms of discrimination, incorporating a definition of discrimination that is applicable in all areas of social life and that contains all the elements of article 1 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 81. The Special Rapporteur recommends that, in order to focus on the central role of social multiculturalism and strengthen the ongoing drive towards democracy, the Constitution should be amended to include two additional elements: the affirmation that Mauritanian society is built on democratic, egalitarian and participatory multiculturalism, and the recognition of the main ethnic groups or communities in society and their languages and cultures. Given that language policies have in the past been used as a tool that has helped polarize the various communities, he recommends that, in addition to Arabic, Pular, Soninke and Wolof should be given constitutional status as official languages. 82. In parallel with the adoption of the new Act prohibiting slavery and slavery-like practices, the Special Rapporteur recommends the adoption of measures under the Act to make it possible, over and above the criminal liability of individual slave-owners, for victims to bring civil suits, notably for restitution or compensation. He further recommends that support measures should be put in place as a matter of priority, to publicize the contents of the Act and, in the longer term, mitigate the impact of slavery on people’s attitudes and behaviour. 83. At the institutional level, the Special Rapporteur recommends that a national assessment should be made of the historical and cultural underpinnings of discrimination. He therefore recommends the establishment by the National Human Rights Commission of an independent commission based on the principle of the democratic participation of all political movements, affected communities, traditional religious and spiritual leaders and civil society actors. 84. The commission should tackle the main issues in Mauritanian society which give rise to discrimination, including the issue of slavery and caste and political practices which, in recent years, have made ethnicity a political tool and have widened the gap between the various communities. It should be mandated, on the one hand, to draft a white paper on the status, root causes, manifestations and consequences of the discrimination which has scarred Mauritanian history and, on the other hand, to develop on that basis a national programme of action against all forms of discrimination to help counteract the consequences of the injustices and discrimination experienced by Mauritanian society. It should pay particular attention to key State institutions such as the armed forces and the justice system and could, in the short term, apply the principle of positive discrimination based on detailed demographic indicators showing ancestry and ethnic origin.