E/CN.4/2004/18 page 8 11. It is clear from the report on the Special Rapporteur’s mission to Colombia (E/CN.4/2004/18/Add.3), however, that the Roma are not exposed to racial discrimination only in Europe. As their travelling tradition has also taken them to Latin America, they have met with social exclusion there too. Apart from Colombia, the Special Rapporteur hopes that forthcoming reports may provide the Commission with information concerning the situation of Roma in South America in general. D. Expressions of racism related to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia 12. The Durban Declaration, in paragraph 61, expresses the “deep concern” of participant States at “the increase in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in various parts of the world, as well as the emergence of racial and violent movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities”. The Special Rapporteur has paid particular attention to the growth of these tendencies in 2003. Since the Commission has already requested (resolution 2003/4, para. 14) the Special Rapporteur to examine Islamophobia in the context of a study on the situation of Muslim and Arab peoples in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 (see E/CN.4/2004/19), this section has been chiefly devoted to anti-Semitism. 13. According to similar reports received from several non-governmental, particularly Jewish, organizations,2 and from the State of Israel, there has recently been an alarming resurgence of anti-Semitism, which has taken the form of the profanation of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, attacks on individuals who are Jewish or presumed to be Jewish, anti-Jewish propaganda on the Internet, and anti-Semitic graffiti and remarks by internationally well-known personalities. Several organizations have drawn attention to the statement by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia at the opening of the tenth summit meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Special Rapporteur has particularly asked the Government of Malaysia for its reaction to the speech. Another particularly noteworthy example was the statement at a press conference on 12 November 2003 by a famous Greek composer, who said that “that small nation is the root of all evil in the world […]. The Greek people do not possess the fanaticism of the Jews”. 14. According to the World Jewish Congress, in 2002 and the beginning of 2003, a total of 311 serious anti-Semitic incidents took place in the world, including 56 large-scale armed attacks and 255 violent but unarmed incidents. Most of these took place in Western Europe, North America and the Russian Federation. The Jewish organizations also commented on the recent spread of anti-Semitism in the Middle East through the large-scale distribution of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notoriously anti-Semitic book, which has been turned into a television series. The Special Rapporteur has written to the Governments concerned requesting their reactions to these allegations. 15. In the opinion of the Special Rapporteur, in view of the large number of confirmed incidents and of the representative and therefore influential nature of the personalities involved, the concern expressed by participant States at the Durban Conference regarding the rise of anti-Semitism is justified. Owing to its historic and religious depth and the extreme violence of its intellectual and human expressions, of which the Nazi holocaust remains the symbol, anti-Semitism is a particularly pregnant and resilient form of discrimination. Its reappearance in some parts of the world, combined with the revival of other forms of racism and discrimination,