A/63/339 48. The experts recommended that the current Migration Law be revised as a matter of urgency to conform to the jus soli provisions of the Constitution and that the rights of all persons of Haitian descent must be respected. As a vital step, the experts also urged the recognition of the reality of racism and discrimination and the expression of a strong political will at the highest level, as well as the establishment of a national plan of action against racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia, in consultation with, and inclusive of, all groups within Dominican society. The experts also called for a wide and inclusive debate on issues of racism and discrimination within the country, particularly in regard to those groups, to rebuild confidence across and within communities and promote a sense of belonging. 5. Mission to Mauritania 49. The former mandate holder visited Mauritania from 20 to 24 January 2008 at the invitation of the Government. He submitted a preliminary note on the visit at the seventh session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/7/19/Add.6). The visit included the cities of Nouakchott and Rosso. He met both local and national Government representatives, including President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Prime Minister Zein Ould Zeidane, ministers and secretaries of State and members of the legislature and the judiciary. He also met representatives of non-governmental organizations, spiritual and religious leaders, political party leaders, intellectuals, journalists and other members of civil society involved in the efforts to eliminate racism and discrimination. The former mandate holder also visited the El-Mina neighbourhood and the Dar Naim prison in Nouakchott, and the Toulel II area near Rosso, where he met with Mauritanian refugees returned from Senegal in the 1990s. 50. The main conclusion of the former mandate holder following the visit was that, while there were no manifestations of legally endorsed or State-approved racism in the country, Mauritanian society had been deeply marked by continuing discriminatory practices of an ethnic and racial nature, rooted in cultural traditions and pervasively present in attitudes and social structures. A number of persistent features of Mauritanian society had given substance and depth to such discrimination over a long period of time, including: the central role of traditional slavery; the cultural and social entrenchment of the caste system; and the use of ethnicity as a political tool, including through language policies that had contributed to the polarization of Mauritanian society and the antagonism of various communities. 51. The former mandate holder highlighted the key challenge of constructing the identity of the Mauritanian nation in the face of the continuing identity tension between its two main and highly polarized groups: Arabs and Africans. Throughout the country’s history, the tension had been used politically to favour the Arab dimension in forging the country’s official identity. The heavy burden of the historical legacy of discrimination, as reflected in attitudes and social structures, as well as in inter-community relations and perceptions, was a particularly serious obstacle to the eradication of the culture of discrimination and its various manifestations. The burden was reflected in the silence of victims on the subject of their suffering, and their political, economic and social invisibility in political, military, police and security governance structures and in the world of business and the media, a silence and invisibility that had for a long time resulted, inter alia, in 12 08-49342