E/CN.4/2006/16 page 10 28 and 29 April Discussion on Switzerland and slavery, Book Salon, Geneva 10 and 11 May Meetings of European national committees for UNESCO, Luxembourg 25-27 May World Conference on Interreligious Dialogue, Santiago de Compostela, Spain 8 and 9 June Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, Córdoba, Spain 23-25 September Conference organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the City of Nuremberg on racism in Europe 26-29 September Symposium entitled “Cultural diversity in the Mediterranean: between conflict and dialogue”, Seville, Spain 27 and 28 October Meeting on intercultural and interreligious dialogue, Madrid 2-4 November Strategies for inclusion of peoples of African descent in poverty-reduction programmes, Lima 15 November Conference of the Fund for Projects against Racism and for Human Rights, Swiss Government, Berne 18 and 19 November Expert seminar on defamation of religions, Seville, Spain 22 November Speech on United Nations mechanisms to combat racism: lessons learned and challenges ahead, Berlin The Special Rapporteur’s participation in these meetings related to the following considerations: Resurgence of old and new manifestations of racism and xenophobia; Historical and cultural roots of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia; Intellectual legitimization and political use of racist and xenophobic statements and acts; The central role of identity constructs and of multiculturalism issues in the exacerbation of forms of racism and xenophobia; The dynamic of the conflict of civilizations, cultures and religions inherent in the rise of racism and the conjoining of racial, cultural and religious factors; and