A/HRC/7/19 page 5 Australia. In France, the recent bill introducing DNA testing into the administrative procedure for persons wishing to be reunited with family members resident in France is a further serious illustration of the political use of genetics to reinforce the stigmatization of immigrants, and a blow to the ethical significance of the family, now reduced to its purely genetic aspect. 6. The growth of incitement to racial and religious hatred and the resurgence of manifestations of anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and, more particularly, Islamophobia are other particularly worrying trends. They can be attributed to the following: conflation of race, culture and religion; intellectual and ideological questioning of religion; the imbalance between the defence of secularism and respect for freedom of religion; and the supervisory and security-based approach to the practice and teaching of Islam. A particularly worrying element resulting from these developments is the selective and political interpretation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, manifested inter alia by the ideological pre-eminence of freedom of expression over the other freedoms, restrictions and limitations embodied in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 7. These trends are indicative of a ring-fencing of identity, of an intellectual and political resistance to multiculturalism, which stems from the conflict between the old national identities and the far-reaching process of multiculturalization taking place in all societies. This gives rise to identity crises that are key to the increasingly dominant idea of “integration-assimilation”, which denies the very existence of values and memories specific to national minorities and immigrants, and thus excludes their contribution to the value system, history and national identity of host countries. This idea is in fact part of the old ideology of the hierarchy of cultures, races and civilizations, on which all subjugation of peoples and legitimization of racist culture and attitudes have historically been based, thus creating fertile soil for all old and new forms of racism and xenophobia. II. ACTIVITIES OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR A. Visits by the Special Rapporteur 8. The Special Rapporteur visited Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from 16 to 28 September 2007 in order to assess two important aspects relating to his mandate: firstly, the reconstruction of the identity of these countries, which are facing tension between the reinforcement of old national identities that had been eroded by past political domination and occupation, and respect and recognition for the rights of national minorities, including those whose presence is due to the domination and occupation; and secondly, the gradual ethnic, cultural and religious multiculturalization - deriving inter alia from non-European sources - of these societies, which in other European countries is leading to attempts to defend identity and racist and xenophobic reactions. The Special Rapporteur’s observations and recommendations are contained in his mission reports (A/HRC/7/19/Add.4, A/HRC/7/19/Add.3 and A/HRC/7/19/Add.2). 9. From 23 to 29 October 2007, the Special Rapporteur made a joint visit to the Dominican Republic with the Independent Expert on minority issues. In its analysis of the extent of racism in Dominican society, the joint mission report (A/HRC/7/19/Add.5) describes the divergence of