A/HRC/23/19 51. Mr. Bello Maldonado reiterated the fact that the role of civil society and its interaction with political parties was essential in combating racism, and emphasized the need to create accountability mechanisms for politicians and political parties. 52. The representative of Tunisia suggested that punishment of hate speech was necessary and could perhaps be strengthened through automatic prosecution. He also stressed that hate speech by a politician it should be seen as an aggravating circumstance. 53. Dr. Lucrezia Meier-Schatz, on behalf of the IPU, highlighted the role of parliaments in proposing a model of society based on respect, tolerance, acceptance of others and of human rights. She referred to the commitments assumed by IPU in 2001 to develop appropriate mechanisms to combat discrimination, promote human rights and consolidate democracy. 54. Dr. Meier-Schatz highlighted four areas of participation, including the establishment of a fair play environment in parliaments to fight racism and racial discrimination. She stated that diversity had to be reflected in parliaments, and favoured the setting up in parliaments of a network to monitor issues of racial discrimination. 55. According to Professor Chigara, Professor of Law at Brunel University (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the battle for control of public authority was probably the oldest contest in any nation State. It attracted attention and the support of others who, while not seeking public authority themselves, sought to influence its uses towards particular outcomes. This introduced the threat of corruption to the function of politicians and political parties regardless of the political system in operation. As an outcome, the threat of discrimination of individuals was maximized wherever corruption of policy makers existed. 56. Professor Chigara also pointed out that, whenever traditional political parties felt challenged by emergent pro-ethno-nationalist parties, they tended to adopt radical extremist rhetoric that exacerbated intolerance in nation States. 57. Lastly, Professor Chigara expressed the view that legislating over the years against discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance had not solved the problem. New forms of coded language, symbols and arguments had emerged to replace prohibited ones as mere symptoms of the problem. He recommended that States should focus on the root causes of this behaviour and apply a combination of measures towards its eventual elimination, including a meticulously planned and efficiently executed 10-year universal educational campaign. 58. In the ensuing discussion, the representative of Senegal inquired whether IPU made recommendations to Member States and, if so, what the legal weight of such recommendations was and the follow-up by IPU on them. 59. Several delegates requested Mr. Chigara to elaborate on the link between discrimination, political power, business and corruption. 60. The representative of the European Union enquired about existing cooperation with parliamentarian assemblies. She asked both speakers to provide additional information on parliamentarian measures that focused on awareness-raising, and to elaborate on current initiatives in the area of education to combat racism and discrimination. 61. The representative of the United Kingdom stressed its commitments in the field of business and human rights. 62. The representative of Austria referred to the Commission for Equality of Austria, and requested information on the cooperation of IPU with other international bodies. He also referred to the International Anti-Corruption Academy, an international organization based in Laxenburg (Austria). 9