A/HRC/11/36 page 14 Declaration and Programme of Action had yet to be fully implemented around the world. The Review Conference was therefore a unique chance to redress these serious implementation gaps, to consolidate effective strategies to achieve the ambitious goals set out in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, and to rebuild the strong international consensus that was shaped in Durban in the fight against all forms of racism. 44. On 12 November 2008, the Special Rapporteur, at the invitation of the Council of Europe, attended the Conference on Human Rights in Culturally Diverse Societies, held in The Hague. In his intervention, the Special Rapporteur focused on issues related to hate speech and incitement to racial hatred. He explained that discussions over hate speech, and how to balance prohibitions thereof with freedom of expression, currently lay at the centre of debates in the United Nations human rights system. He noted that this debate had developed around the notion of “defamation of religions”, put forward for the first time in the Commission of Human Rights in 1999. After highlighting some key aspects of the debate, the Special Rapporteur noted that the debate at the international level was moving from the concept of “defamation of religions” to the existing legal notion of “advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence”, which was considered a positive shift, as it helped better understand the existing legal obligations of States. The Special Rapporteur also addressed some technical and legal issues involved in the application of incitement laws, including their threshold of application, the need for contextualized information and case-by-case analysis and some of the criteria needed when applying such laws. The Special Rapporteur made reference, in particular, to the expert seminar organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in October 2008. To conclude, he also highlighted that a much broader set of policy measures were necessary, particularly at the domestic level, to eliminate the root causes of racism. 45. On 21 January 2009, the Special Rapporteur participated in a seminar on the prevention of genocide, chaired in Geneva by the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng. Apart from co-signing a statement delivered by several mandate holders, the Special Rapporteur focused on explaining how racism and genocide were connected. He stated that genocide, ethnic cleansing and other war crimes had been traditionally linked to the emergence of exclusionary ideologies based on race or ethnicity. For example, the actions perpetrated by those guided by Nazi or Hutu power ideology showed how extreme forms of racism, often hidden behind the guise of radical nationalism, could lead to unspeakable catastrophes. The Special Rapporteur praised the work carried out by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on issues related to genocide, combining both a focus on long-term and short-term factors and root causes with more immediate factors that could trigger mass violence at particular times. Understanding these factors could lead to a more robust response by the international community. The Special Rapporteur added that an anti-racism and anti-discrimination approach was thus essential in post-conflict situations, particularly in post-genocide contexts, to ensure that such tragedies would not recur. In particular, the racial or ethnic fractions that opened during conflict had to be addressed, such as with broad programmes of national reconciliation that foster inter-ethnic cooperation. While the easier short-term fixes could sometimes point to virtual separation among ethnic groups (such as by the creation of ethnically-defined political parties), the only lasting solutions were those that build bridges among communities and allow them to identify with a common future.