E/CN.4/2001/21 page 16 III. CONTEMPORARY MANIFESTATIONS OF RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE A. Anti-Semitism 1. Information provided by Belarus 30. A few isolated incidents of anti-Semitism did occur in Belarus, but the problem is not widespread and in no way jeopardises the life or health of persons belonging to that community. Several press publications have reported expressions of anti-Semitism in the form of acts of vandalism committed in cemeteries and the appearance of insulting graffiti on buildings. 31. The Slavianskaya Gazeta, a newspaper registered in the Republic of Belarus (but produced in the Russian Federation), published some articles in 1998 inciting national and religious hatred and discord and attacking the religious feelings of believers. In conformity with article 5 of the law on the press and other media, a written warning noting the infringement of Belarussian law was sent on two occasions to the newspaper’s management. The Slavianskaya Gazeta was banned at the beginning of 1999. In the spring of 1999, the State Committee for the press of the Republic of Belarus sent a written warning to the newspaper Litchnost for publishing remarks prejudicial to the religious feelings of believers. In 2000, the editors of the newspapers Nacha Niva and Bielorousskaya Dielovaya Gazeta received a warning for publishing articles containing remarks inciting to ethnic hatred. 32. In 1998-1999, acts of vandalism were committed in cemeteries in the towns of Borisov, Retchina, Petrikov, Gomel and Berezino, where persons of Jewish origin are buried. Cemeteries where persons belonging to other ethnic and religious groups are buried have also been subjected to acts of vandalism. Such acts reflect not so much anti-Semitism as shortcomings in the standards of education of young people. In Khinovsk, in the district of Stolin in the region of Brest, at the beginning of 1998, the memorial to the victims of the Ghetto was destroyed; its restoration has been funded by the Stolin District Committee and the State Committee for religious and ethnic affairs of the Republic of Belarus. 33. Other incidents which can unfortunately be described as anti-Semitic have also occurred. In August 1998, the monument commemorating the place where the inhabitants of the Brest Ghetto were executed in 1942 was covered in drawings of Fascist symbols. The desecrator, a child of 15, was identified and sentenced to an administrative penalty. In May 1999, the same monument was desecrated again, that time by a group of youngsters who were prosecuted and sentenced to an administrative penalty. 2. Information communicated by Israel 34. The comments below are based on the report Anti-Semitism Worldwide 1999/2000 by Tel-Aviv University, which is available at the secretariat. In January 2000, the International Forum on the Holocaust was held in Stockholm. Fifty-five heads of State declared that the Holocaust “challenged the foundations of civilization” and that “with humanity still scarred by genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, the international community