A/HRC/40/75 Report of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on its sixteenth session I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted by the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Effective Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 34/34. II. Organization of the session 2. The Working Group held its sixteenth session from 27 August to 7 September 2018 and from 11 to 12 December 2018. Participants discussed and shared views on the state of racial discrimination worldwide, measures to enhance the effectiveness of the follow-up mechanisms to the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action and how to ensure better synergies between those mechanisms. The Working Group reviewed the progress achieved in the implementation of the programme of activities of the International Decade for People of African Descent and in the implementation of recommendations adopted at its previous session. It also held a one-day meeting to consider the elaboration of a draft United Nations declaration on the promotion of and full respect for the human rights of people of African descent. The Working Group exchanged views on and discussed the impact of extremist political parties and movements with respect to the rise of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. A. Attendance 3. The session was attended by representatives of States Members of the United Nations, observers from non-Member States and by intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). 4. Under items 5 and 6 of the programme of work, presentations were made by the Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Pastor Murillo, and the Chair of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, Michael Balcerzak. 5. Under item 7, presentations were made on racism in sports by a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and on sport and discrimination by the representative of the Fare network, Pavel Klymenko. 6. Under item 8, presentations were made by visiting researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lund, Sweden, and founding member of the European Network of People of African Descent, Michael McEachrane; member of the Swedish parliament and of the standing committee on finance and taxation, Momodou Malcom Jallow; journalist specializing in information sciences and Executive Director of CIPINA (Centre d’Information et de Promotion de l’Image d’une Nouvelle Afrique) International, Tidjane Diouwara; and the Founder of World Afro Day®, Michelle De Leon. 7. Under item 9, presentations were made by the Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Gay McDougall; member of the Working Group, Sabelo Gumedze; Momodou Malcom Jallow; former OHCHR senior fellow on the fellowship programme for people of African descent, Elisabeth Kaneza; Michael McEachrane; co-founder of the organization Blackbird and leader at the Movement for Black Lives, Thenjiwe Tameika McHarris; PhD candidate in human rights at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, University of London, Esther Ojulari; adviser on combating racism and xenophobia, Larry Olomofe; lawyer in Guadeloupe and professor of private law 2