A/64/271 opinion and expression and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief at a side event during the Durban Review Conference. 2 36. In the last chapter of his report, the Special Rapporteur makes a number of conclusions and recommendations, proposing a way forward in international efforts to combat incitement to racial or religious hatred. In this regard, he reiterates the recommendation of his predecessor to encourage a shift away from the sociological concept of the defamation of religions towards the legal norm of non-incitement to national, racial or religious hatred. He also welcomes the consensus reached at the Durban Review Conference and recommends policymakers to rely on the robust and adequate language of the outcome document and to implement it domestically. Finally, he recommends that strong emphasis be put on the implementation of the core obligations of States relating to the protection of individuals and groups of individuals against violations of their rights incurred by hate speech and stresses the need to protect members of religious or belief communities from violation of their right to freedom of religion or belief. 2. Racism and poverty 37. The issue of racism and poverty has been addressed by the Special Rapporteur in his first annual report submitted at the eleventh session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/11/36), as well as in the framework of a side event on “Discrimination and poverty: exclusion and solutions in the new millennium” organized on 21 April 2008 by OHCHR during the Durban Review Conference. 38. In the Special Rapporteur’s view, a central dimension of the fight against racism lies around the overlap between two key social indicators: class and race or ethnicity. While the links between race and poverty have yet to be further elucidated, national data, when available, unambiguously show that racial or ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by poverty. Poverty puts members of minorities in a vicious circle. The lack of education, adequate housing and health care transmits poverty from generation to generation and perpetuates racial prejudices and stereotypes in their regard. Based on the body of empirical work and country visits carried out by the mandate, as well as on academic and policyoriented research on this topic, the Special Rapporteur notes that the socio-economic vulnerability of racial or ethnic minorities is generally the result of historical legacies. Indeed, slavery, segregation or apartheid served not only to dehumanize people, but also created structural imbalances that remain to this day. Moreover, these unjust imbalances are also a result of the inaction of Governments. 39. In order to address the disproportionate levels of poverty experienced by the members of racial or ethnic minorities, the Special Rapporteur emphasizes three overarching priorities: (a) the collection of ethnically disaggregated data; (b) the central obligation to non-discrimination; and (c) the need for the enactment of special measures towards groups that suffered from decades or centuries of discrimination. 40. While the Special Rapporteur is conscious of the arguments against the collection of ethnically disaggregated data, he is of the view that the lack of such data has most often prevented policymakers from devising specific and appropriate __________________ 2 10 The full text of the joint statement of the three Special Rapporteurs is available online at www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/racism/rapporteur/docs/Joint_Statement_SRs.pdf. 09-45097