A/HRC/39/69 systems, and the global fight against terrorism. He also asserted that each person was able to make a unique and meaningful contribution to society and all persons, including migrants, whatever the nature of their contribution, had infinite value simply by being. Mr. Sunga reiterated the significant role of the State in promoting positive perceptions of migrants to the public, including the presentation of facts and studies that included the contribution of migrants to society. On the matter of the prevention of violent extremism, Mr. Sunga recommended that States develop joint and participatory strategies with civil society and local communities to protect communities from recruitment for violent extremism. In addition, he suggested that States use confidence-building measures at the community level by providing appropriate platforms for dialogue and the early identification of grievances. He stated that the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the programme of activities of the International Decade for People of African Descent were useful instruments that would provide guidance in this connection. 24. Joe Frans, a former member of the Swedish parliament and a former Chair of the Working Group, highlighted in his presentation an increase in racism, which was perpetrated through hate speech and manifested by violence towards people of African descent around the world, particularly in Europe and North America. He explained the three levels at which racism functions: institutional racism, mediated racism and internalized racism. He pointed out the importance of understanding how exactly racism permeates the very social fabric of societies to develop mechanisms to redress the issue. For instance, America’s “Black lives matter” movement had arisen out of the deaths of black people, but it was not a new development. The root cause was slavery and colonialism. Another example from Denmark showed how policymaking affected racism. According to Mr. Frans, the Government of Denmark had recently decided to empower the police to adopt a regime where the same type of crime would attract different sanctions depending on in which part of the city an individual lived. Even though the motive of the policy was to combat crime, it risked criminalizing a certain group of people because of where they resided, whereby people of African descent were negatively affected because they lived in the affected areas, when the main issue was poverty. He added that such policies led to gains for far-right parties and emboldened them to raise the tone of their anti-migrant, antiblack rhetoric. He called for continued efforts by the whole human rights community, including the Working Group, to rectify structural and institutional discriminatory policies. 25. During the interactive discussion, Mr. Gumedze asked the panellists how States could address the issue of extremist ideologies and violence against people of African descent if they lacked data disaggregated on the basis of race or ethnicity. Mr. Sunga agreed that it was indeed difficult to address the issue without proper data. While the best option would be to strongly urge States to count people on their territory on the basis of voluntary self-identification, Mr. Frans suggested the development of application software in order to keep track of racist crimes and unfair treatment faced by people of African descent. Mr. Gumedze also wanted to know how to deal with violent extremism in sports and during election periods when hate speech was commonly employed in order to win votes. Mr. Frans suggested that the Working Group could engage further with sporting federations. He called upon civil society to take an active role in pushing back on the increasing tolerance for hate speech during elections. Mr. Balcerzak commented that the climate of tolerance for hate speech was the root of the problem and that there should therefore be laws in place to punish and criminalize hate crimes. Mr. Reid commented that one way forward in addressing institutional and violent racism was for States to implement the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the programme of activities of the International Decade for People of African Descent, with an emphasis on teaching African history and highlighting the contribution made by people of African descent. 26. One representative of an NGO pointed to the importance of seeking the source of racism rooted in the notion of white supremacy. Another representative of a civil society organization voiced deep concern at the rise of incidents targeting racial, ethnic and religious minorities and the proliferation of violent hate groups and called upon the Working Group to encourage Member States, in the strongest possible terms, to hold violent hate groups and individuals accountable, to honour non-refoulement obligations and ensure that national immigration policies and law enforcement policies did not discriminate based on race, national origin or other status. Mr. Balcerzak stated that the Working Group 7