A/HRC/10/25 page 14 importance to the respect for human rights, particularly in the long term, it is certainly an insufficient tool where crimes against humanity are already being perpetrated. Finally, but importantly, special procedures should be provided with sufficient resources to carry out their activities, including fact-finding missions. 51. Relevant stakeholders could also benefit more from specific recommendations of special procedures in the aftermath of large-scale violence in order to address the root causes of such violence and prevent its recurrence. For example, in addition to criminal justice proceedings, national commissions of inquiry could play an important role in identifying root causes of major incidents of racial, ethnic or religious violence and in making recommendations to address underlying tensions and thus prevent them from reigniting into genocidal violence. Special procedures have provided both general and thematic advice on ensuring the effectiveness of national commissions of inquiry (see A/HRC/8/3) and have reported on the progress of specific inquiries, including detecting when the efforts of such commissions might be floundering. Increased use could be made of special procedures to ensure more continuous and coherent engagement by the international community in the work of national commissions of inquiry. IV. HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES 52. The reports of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Five-Point Action Plan (E/CN.4/2006/84) and the activities of the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide (A/HRC/7/37) are of major relevance to the treaty body system, given that a number of treaty bodies work on issues related to ethnically-based patterns of discrimination and exclusion that may lead to hatred and violence and, in some instances, risk degenerating into threats of genocide. 53. While the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide itself does not provide for the establishment of a monitoring body, a number of monitoring bodies established under human rights treaties subsequently adopted, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, address issues of discrimination, exclusion and abuse that may be considered to fall among the root causes of genocide. 54. By way of example, while the Genocide Convention defines as international crimes a number of acts committed with the intention to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination defines as racial discrimination distinctions and exclusions on the grounds of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin that have the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It could be said, therefore, that genocide constitutes the most heinous form of racial discrimination, with the purpose of nullifying all human rights, including the right to life itself. As all efforts to address and overcome racial discrimination are therefore by implication also aimed at countering and pre-empting tendencies that may have the potential to escalate into threats of genocide, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, together with the Human Rights Committee and other treaty bodies, have an important role to play in the monitoring, detection and prevention of risks of genocide.