E/CN.4/2003/21 page 19 9. The Working Group intends to use a multidisciplinary approach when considering the situation of people of African descent and hopes to be able to benefit from the contribution of specialists from various fields, including history, economics, sociology, psychology, law, political science, religion and spirituality, in order to form a comprehensive understanding of the problems facing people of African descent. 10. The Working Group intends to maintain a local, national, regional and international perspective in order to consider the needs of people of African descent in a holistic manner. 11. Given the complexity and diversity of issues relating to people of African descent, and given the fact that few NGOs and community-based organizations of people of African descent were able to attend its first and second sessions, the Working Group believes that proper consideration and understanding of the complex issues concerning racial discrimination faced by people of African descent will require further sessions. 12. The Working Group regrets that it could not benefit from the full membership of experts at its first and second sessions and encourages the Western European and Other Group of States to nominate an expert and to raise the level of their participation in the Working Group. 13. The Working Group emphasizes the need to preserve, protect and restore traditional knowledge, the intangible patrimony and spiritual memory of sites and places of the slave trade and slave resistance, through building museums, monuments and other means. 14. The Working Group recognizes that people of African descent are disadvantaged through national policies that expropriate ancestral lands, including for purposes of national parks or for private sale. B. Recommendations 15. In accordance with its mandate, the Working Group proposes the following to the Commission on Human Rights: The study of problems of racial discrimination faced by people of African descent living in the diaspora. To that end, gathering of all relevant information from Governments, NGOs and other appropriate sources, including through holding public meetings. 16. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) should assist the Working Group by collecting various kinds of documentation, including publications, reports and studies undertaken by the various United Nations agencies, bodies, departments, and committees, as well as by institutes, academics, groups and individuals, that are relevant to the human rights and advancement of people of African descent.