A/HRC/11/36/Add.3 page 7 D. Methodology 11. The Special Rapporteur carried out extensive meetings with authorities at the executive, legislative and judiciary branches to collect their views and opinions as well as information concerning government programmes, legislation and judicial decisions. Additionally, an agenda with civil society organizations, communities and associations representing minority groups, victims of discrimination, journalists and student leaders was organized. 12. The Special Rapporteur structured his meetings around three questions: (i) Is there still racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in the United States? (ii) If so, who are their main victims and what are their main manifestations and expressions? (iii) What are or should be the governmental policies and programmes to fight these phenomena at the political, legal and cultural levels? II. LEGAL FRAMEWORK 13. The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, adopted on the aftermath of the Civil War, contains an Equal Protection Clause that formally recognizes the principle of equality before the law. It provides that “[No State shall] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. The fifteenth amendment, ratified on 3 February 1870, further extends the right to vote to all races. 14. The civil rights movement in the 1960s led to the signature by President Lyndon B. Johnson of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The Act constitutes a historic landmark in the elimination of de jure racial discrimination in the country and to set up the institutional and legal structure to combat discrimination. The Act also set up the Commission on Civil Rights, which was mandated to inter alia investigate denials of the right to vote, study and collect information concerning legal developments constituting a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution and appraise the laws and policies of the Federal Government in this regard.5 The Act was further complemented by the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. 15. The enforcement of non-discrimination provisions of the Constitution and federal legislation is primarily carried out by the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, which is composed of over 700 staff. The Civil Rights Division carries out enforcement actions in areas that include criminal cases, disability rights, education, employment, housing and voting. Other Federal agencies are also involved in the enforcement of equal protection legislation, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 5 See Title V, Section 504 of the Civil Rights Act.