A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 page 18 D. Views of non-European communities 66. The Special Rapporteur held meetings with several representatives of the African and Arab communities in Latvia. These communities are small in size and many of their members have lived in the country for many years, acquiring Latvian citizenship. However, they expressed concerns regarding mounting racism and discrimination, giving examples of the particular expressions of these phenomena. 67. The two main concerns expressed by residents of non-European origin in Latvia are racially motivated crimes, particularly by members of extremist organizations, including neo-Nazi groups, and relations with law enforcement officials, especially the police and border guards. According to minority representatives, these two trends will pose a grave threat to residents of non-European origin in the future, particularly with the new waves of migration that are likely to follow Latvia’s accession to the EU. 68. Insofar as racially motivated crimes are concerned, non-European communities emphasized the lack of adequate mechanisms to redress violations and, in particular, punish perpetrators. The problem of an overly high burden of proof was mentioned, which makes it virtually impossible to accurately prosecute racist crimes as such. Furthermore, members of these communities expressed serious concern regarding the tendency to qualify racist violence as acts of hooliganism, often leading only to suspended sentences and a formal apology. 69. Relations with law enforcement officials were also emphasized as an important form of discrimination against persons of non-European origins. Numerous cases of harassment by police officers were reported, and many interlocutors mentioned that informal racial profiling is widespread. This has been a particularly sensitive problem for the Arab community, affected with negative stereotypes as terrorists, which has increased harassment by the police in general as well as border guards. 70. Non-European communities emphasized the importance of multicultural training programmes for law enforcement officials, focusing on respect for diversity and promotion of tolerance. On the legal level, more comprehensive legislation was called for, especially in the realm of racially motivated crimes, as well as clear guidelines for the prosecution of cases of incitement to racial and religious hatred. IV. ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR 71. After closely analysing the statements of Government officials and those of civil society organizations, representatives of minorities and victims of racism and discrimination, the Special Rapporteur reached the following conclusions. 72. The Special Rapporteur has noted that Latvian society has a history of tolerance, muticulturalism and openness to distinct cultures. Since the Middle Ages, Latvian territory has been a crossroads for different ethnic groups who lived together in harmony. Despite the existence of scars from the more recent historical experience of the Second World War, in particular the Holocaust, and subsequent Soviet occupation, the Latvian tradition of tolerance and multiculturalism needs to be a major element in the deployment of efforts to eradicate racism and discrimination in the long term.