A/HRC/59/62 racism advocates, including human rights defenders, to fight against systemic racism and intersectional discrimination. 34. Addressing these barriers and realizing the right to participation in public affairs among those affected by systemic racism and intersectional discrimination requires a multifaceted approach. Special measures that integrate consideration of intersectional discrimination, including to ensure political representation,46 have an important role to play in ensuring representation and participation in policy, legal and other decision-making spaces, as discussed below. Special measures should be complemented by other steps to ensure participation. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur encourages the implementation of the guidance note of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) entitled “How to effectively implement the right to participate in public affairs: a spotlight on people of African descent”.47 In the guidance note, the Office stresses the importance of a range of measures to ensure participation, including developing specific formal and permanent mechanisms that enable sustained participation, ensuring diversity and inclusion in participatory processes, providing adequate budgetary and human resources to ensure meaningful, inclusive and safe participation processes and developing channels for participation and outreach that are attuned to the needs of marginalized racial and ethnic groups. While noting the focus on people of African descent within the guidance note, the Special Rapporteur highlights the applicability of recommended measures to all those affected by systemic racism and intersectional discrimination. Intersectional special measures 35. In her previous report to the General Assembly,48 the Special Rapporteur articulated the valuable role that special measures could play in addressing systemic racism and guaranteeing those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Special measures in domains such as education, employment and political representation can be a tool for ensuring the participation of those from marginalized racial and ethnic groups and facilitating their socioeconomic empowerment, thereby serving to dismantle some of the complex and interrelated facets of systemic racism. The representation of those from racially and ethnically marginalized groups in different institutions and domains can also play an important role in ensuring that societal discourse and decision-making reflect diverse and lived experiences, approaches, viewpoints and prerequisites. 36. Special measures have significant potential to contribute to progress on understanding and addressing systemic racism in a substantial manner. However, to fulfil this potential, it is necessary to ensure comprehensive consideration of the lived experiences of intersectional discrimination in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of special measures. An inadequate focus on intersecting forms of discrimination creates a risk that the most marginalized within racial and ethnic groups will not benefit from special measures. 37. Other human rights mechanisms have also stressed the importance of taking multiple and intersectional discrimination into consideration in the design and implementation of all special measures. For example, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recommended, in its concluding observations, that States Parties adopt special measures to address intersectional forms of discrimination. 49 Moreover, as outlined above, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has outlined States Parties’ obligations to adopt special measures to address intersectional forms of discrimination.50 Legal guarantees and implementation frameworks and strategies must also integrate special measures to reach women who face multiple forms of discrimination, such 46 47 48 49 50 12 A/79/316, paras. 26–28. Geneva, 2023. A/79/316. CERD/C/BRA/CO/18-20, paras. 14 and 19 (c); and CERD/C/PRT/CO/18-19, para. 14. General recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States Parties under article 2 of the Convention, para. 18; and general recommendation No. 40 (2024) on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems. GE.25-07755