E/CN.4/1998/79 page 8 economic and strategic interests. Its policies towards Israel, the Philippines and China were guided by strategic concerns. As for Mexican immigrants, the opening up of the North American market under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the opportunity to put pressure on wages made them particularly attractive to United States employers. Nowadays interest is focusing on the 'brain drain', on those highly qualified in the arts, culture and science. The confluence of all these interests has led the United States gradually to increase the overall quota, and that does not include the high proportion of illegal immigration into the country. This policy has also been accompanied by particularly repressive measures against Mexican nationals and those working in the maquiladora industry and in free zones.” 21. The record of proceedings of this seminar and its conclusions and recommendations are available for consultation at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. B. Cotonou Seminar on all forms of discrimination (June 1997) 22. As part of the activities of the Institute for Human Rights and the Promotion of Democracy (“Democracy in daily life”), which he established in his home country (Benin), the Special Rapporteur organized an international meeting of experts on “all forms of discrimination based on race, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief or any other factors in Africa south of the Sahara” in Cotonou on 5 and 6 June 1997, with financial assistance from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The meeting focused on the following subjects: (1) problem areas in the field of discrimination in all its forms in Black Africa; (2) relations between ethnic groups in the Sahel countries; (3) the problems of ethnicity, nationalities and relations between ethnic groups in Central Africa, particularly in the Great Lakes region; (4) discrimination against women and children: the case of Benin (Vidomegons); (5) relations between the peoples of the Gulf of Benin and members of the non-African communities (Europeans, Lebanese, Syrians, Indians, Pakistanis, etc.). The final report of the meeting is available at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In the context of the forthcoming World Conference on Racism and Xenophobia, meetings of this kind should be organized at the subregional and regional levels in other parts of the world. C. Seminar on the Internet and racism 23. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights organized a seminar on “The role of the Internet in the light of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination” in Geneva, from 10 to 14 November 1997. Several papers were presented on that occasion on topics which included: (1) racism and racial discrimination on the Internet; (2) prohibition of racist propaganda on the Internet: juridical aspects (national and international measures); (3) technical aspects of screening racist propaganda on the Internet (national and international measures) and (4) elements relating to conduct and good practice for Internet-based materials. The summary records of the seminar, together with its conclusions and recommendations, are available at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.