A/HRC/23/56/Add.2 53. The Government acknowledged ethnic profiling as a problem. The Special Rapporteur was informed of ongoing training programmes to sensitize the police on discrimination, and the development of good practices related to police/community relations and ethnic profiling reduction in some parts of Spain. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur commends the excellent work done by the municipality police force of Fuenlabrada in Madrid in terms of promoting cultural diversity and reporting racist incidents, ensuring accountability of police forces with regard to racism including through the use of registration forms to supervise individual officers more closely, and building relations between the police and the community. The Special Rapporteur also appreciates the valuable efforts made by the police force Mossos d’Esquadra of Barcelona. He was informed about the project named “Strategies for Effective Police Stop” implemented in 2007 and 2008 and involving the municipal police forces of Fuenlabrada and Gerona, and the Mossos d’Esquadra department in Gerona. The efforts of these police forces are an example of a good practice that can be emulated by other jurisdictions. F. Other challenges 54. The emergence of hate speech and xenophobic discourse among politicians was also brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur. Several NGOs reported an increase in such discourse. In this regard, populist and intolerant rhetoric targeting the Roma and criminalizing them were reported. Migrants have also been blamed by some politicians for being responsible for the consequences of the economic crisis, particularly unemployment. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about reports indicating that some representatives of the Popular Party, which is the current ruling party, have made populist and xenophobic comments against the Roma and migrants. He was also informed that the local leader of the Popular Party in the city of Badalona close to Barcelona openly associated Romanian and Roma migrants with criminality. While there is no extremist political party with seats in the national Parliament, the Special Rapporteur is concerned at the existence of an extremist political party with an openly xenophobic discourse, the Plataforma per Catalunya. 55. The stigmatization of certain groups, including migrants and the Roma, by the media has also been reported. It was reported that electronic and print media continue to propagate prejudice and negative stereotypes against these groups, including linking them to criminality, which contributes to the propagation of their negative image and perception in the public opinion. The media plays an important role in promoting tolerance, and more needs to be done by the media to prevent the spreading of such negative stereotypes. Racism and hate speech on the Internet and in social networks, including against minorities such as the Roma, was reported to be on the rise. Despite the establishment of prosecutors specialized in cybercrime, NGOs reported a continuing impunity for such crimes. A high number of websites, blogs and forums from neo Nazi-groups was also reported. 56. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the legislative and institutional measures taken to eliminate racism in sports. He notes in particular the adoption of Act 19/2007 on violence, racism, xenophobia and intolerance in sports, and the establishment of the State Commission against Violence, Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance in Sport responsible for defining the relevant policies and proposing sanctions for racist or xenophobic acts. While the Special Rapporteur welcomes the efforts made by Spain, he is concerned that racial hostility and abuse in sports remain a problem. VII. Conclusions and recommendations 57. Spain has made important progress in addressing the problem of racism and xenophobia and it is important that the country build on this progress in confronting 14