E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.1 page 4 Health and Mr. Joel Rufino dos Santos, President of the Palmares Cultural Foundation attached to the Ministry of Culture. He also held a working meeting with the congressional Human Rights Commission attended by deputies Nilmario Miranda, President of the Commission, Roberto Valadao, Domingos Dutra and Gil Ney Viaha. He also spoke with Senator Beni Veras, President of the Senate Social Affairs Commission. In the context of cooperation between functions and institution, the Special Rapporteur wishes to mention that he had a very instructive meeting in Brasilia with Mr. Lindgren Alves, Head of the Directorate of Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and member of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Burundi. 5. In Salvador, capital of the State of Bahia, the Special Rapporteur had talks with several State authorities, including Mr. Paulo Ganem Souto, Governor, Mr. Luiz Antonio Vasconcellos Carreira, Secretary for the Plan, Science and Technology, and Mr. Edilson Souto Freire, Secretary of Education. 6. In São Paulo, the capital of the State of São Paulo, the Special Rapporteur met with Mr. Belisario dos Santos, Secretary for Justice and Public Security, Mr. Antonio Carlos Arruda, President of the Council for Black Community Participation and Development of the State of São Paulo and Mr. Dermi Azevedo, representative of the State of São Paulo to the Council for the Defence of Human Rights. 7. At all these places, the Special Rapporteur visited or received representatives of non-governmental organizations, whether community-based or not, working for the promotion and protection of human rights in general, on the combating of racism and racial discrimination in particular. Thanks to the sponsorship of the Centre for Cooperation for Grass-Roots Activities, he was able to visit the Pedreira and Lagartixa favelas on the outskirts of Rio. Those visits served to demonstrate that the favelas are symbols of the widespread social breakdown and racial divisions in Brazil as will be shown below. 8. During his visit to Brazil (the itinerary and a detailed programme of the mission are contained in the annex), the Special Rapporteur was assisted by an official from the Legislation and Prevention of Discrimination Branch of the Centre for Human Rights; he was also helped by two interpreters assigned to the mission by the Conference Services Division of the United Nations Office at Geneva. 9. The Special Rapporteur would like to convey his gratitude to the Brazilian authorities for their cordial welcome and openness, which facilitated his mission. It was with great interest that he took part in the working meetings with the federal and State institutions and with non-governmental organizations, with which he had valuable and very instructive exchanges, in an atmosphere of unfailing friendliness and support.