A/HRC/32/50 discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.21 B. Defining xenophobia 26. As already mentioned, there is no internationally recognized legal definition of xenophobia, not even in the various international and regional policy instruments that seek to combat this phenomenon. At the international level, the joint United Nations publication prepared for the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance that was held in Durban, South Africa, noted that the definition of xenophobia, and its relationship to racism and racial discrimination, remained evolving concepts.22 The present report adopts the conception of xenophobia that was advanced in that publication, which suggests that xenophobia “denotes behaviour specifically based on the perception that the other is foreign to or originates from outside the community or nation”.23 27. It is worth noting that the joint publication attempts to distinguish between racism and xenophobia, while acknowledging a significant overlap between the two. Indeed, while racism has been defined as “an ideological construct that assigns a certain race and/or ethnic group to a position of power over others on the basis of physical and cultural attributes, as well as economic wealth, involving hierarchical relations where the ‘superior’ race exercises domination and control over others”,24 xenophobia has been described as “attitudes, prejudices and behaviour that reject, exclude and often vilify persons, based on the perception that they are outsiders or foreigners to the community, society or national identity… In many cases, it is difficult to distinguish between racism and xenophobia, since differences in physical characteristics are often assumed to distinguish the ‘other’ from the common identity. However, manifestations of xenophobia also occur against people of identical physical characteristics, even of shared ancestry, when such people arrive, return or migrate to States or areas where occupants consider them as outsiders. 25 28. Xenophobia intersects with racism in so far as the (racialized) other is also seen as an outsider or foreign and is feared or is perceived to be a threat. This same dynamic occurs with other groups that have been historically discriminated against on the basis of religion, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identification. Subaltern groups are more likely to be subject to xenophobia precisely because of their place “outside” the dominant community identity. A joint United Nations publication issued in 2015 noted that “migrants are particularly vulnerable to discrimination because their ethnicity, race or religion often differs from those of most people in the host country. Women migrants often face discrimination on multiple grounds of sex, ethnicity, religion and migratory status. There is increasing evidence of racism and xenophobia in destination countries against migrant populations who come from other cultures.”26 21 22 23 24 25 26 European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, general policy recommendation No. 15, para. 51. International Labour Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), International Migration, Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia (2001). Available from www.unesco.org/most/migration/imrdx.pdf (accessed on 11 May 2016). Ibid., p. 2. Ibid., pp. 1 and 2. Ibid., p. 2. Inter-Parliamentary Union, ILO and OHCHR, Migration, Human Rights and Governance: Handbook for Parliamentarians No. 24 (2015), p. 84. 9