Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance - Overview of the mandate

Overview of the mandate:

At its forty-ninth session, the Commission on Human Rights appointed, in resolution 1993/20, a Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia and related intolerance. By its resolution 1994/64 of 9 February 1994 the Commission made the mandate more explicit and precise by requesting the Special Rapporteur:

• to examine in accordance with his mandate incidents of contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, any form of discrimination against Blacks, Arabs and Muslims, xenophobia, negrophobia, anti-Semitism and related intolerance, as well as governmental measures to overcome them, and to report on these matters to the Commission at its fifty-second session”

• to continue his exchange of views with the relevant mechanisms and treaty bodies within the United Nations system in order further to enhance their effectiveness and mutual cooperation”. The Commission also called upon “all Governments, intergovernmental organizations and other relevant organizations of the United Nations system, as well as non-governmental organizations, to supply information to the Special Rapporteur”

• to make the fullest use of all additional sources of information, including country visits and the evaluation of mass media, and to elicit the responses of Governments with regard to allegations”

On 28 March 2008, the Human Rights Council in its resolution 7/34 decided to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance for a period of three years. In particular, the Special Rapporteur was requested to focus on the following issues:

(a) Incidents of contemporary forms of racism and racial discrimination against Africans and people of African descent, Arabs, Asians and people of Asian descent, migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples, as well as other victims included in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action;

(b) Situations where the persistent denial of individuals belonging to different racial and ethnic groups of their recognized human rights, as a result of racial discrimination, constitutes gross and systematic violations of human rights;

(c) The scourges of anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, Islamophobia in various parts of the world, and racist and violent movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas directed at Arab, African, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other communities;

(d) Laws and policies glorifying all historic injustices and fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and underpinning the persistent and chronic inequalities faced by racial groups in various societies;

(e) The phenomenon of xenophobia;

(f) Best practices in the elimination of all forms and manifestations of racism, racial dissemination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

(g) Follow-up to the implementation of all relevant paragraphs of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and the promotion of the establishment of national, regional and international mechanisms to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

(h) The role of human rights education in promoting tolerance and the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

(i) Respect for cultural diversity as a means to prevent racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

(j) Incitement to all forms of hatred, taking into account article 20, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and instances of racially motivated hate speech, including the dissemination of ideas of racial superiority or that incite racial hatred, taking into account article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and general comment No. 15 of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which states that the prohibition of the dissemination of all ideas based upon racial superiority or hatred is compatible with the freedom of opinion and expression;

(k) The sharp increase in the number of political parties and movements, organizations and groups which adopt xenophobic platforms and incite hatred, taking into account the incompatibility of democracy with racism;

(l) The impact of some counter-terrorism measures on the rise of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, including the practice of racial profiling and profiling on the basis of any grounds of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law;

(m) Institutional racism and racial discrimination;

(n) The efficiency of the measures taken by Governments to remedy the situation of victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance;

(o) Impunity for acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and maximizing remedies for the victims of these violations;