A/HRC/43/73 20. The representative of India affirmed the importance of changing social attitudes and emphasized the need for continued focus on education and information to instil the right values in young minds. 21. The representative of Angola, speaking on behalf of the African Group, reaffirmed the importance of the Intergovernmental Working Group to ensuring follow-up on the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. She noted that measures undertaken to date seemed insufficient to reverse the negative impacts of racism and hate speech. She recalled that Human Rights Council resolution 42/29, which was adopted by consensus, had sent a positive signal with regard to international cooperation to fight racism. 22. The representative of the Syrian Arab Republic expressed concern about the rise of manifestations of xenophobia, Islamophobia and hate speech against people of African descent, members of minority groups, migrants and refugees and the need to deal with those grave violations. 23. The representative of Ecuador noted that his Government had updated its national agenda for the equality of nationalities and peoples, 2019–2021, through dialogue and the participation of civil society. He mentioned that the official visit of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent to Ecuador was an excellent opportunity to identify achievements and challenges in that regard. 24. The representative of China stated that some countries had achieved some progress in the implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, however, other countries had failed to take measures to prohibit racist and hate speech or attempted to justify the lack of such prohibitions in the name of freedom of speech. 25. The representative of the World Council for Peace highlighted episodes of xenophobia against Venezuelan migrants and citizens in various countries and recalled the importance of ensuring respect for the rights of migrants. III. Discussion on the situation of racial discrimination worldwide 26. The Working Group considered agenda item 5, “Discussion on the situation of racial discrimination worldwide”, on which three experts gave presentations: Dominique Day, member, Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; Joel Malesela Modiri, lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria; and Pastor Murillo, member, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 27. Ms. Day pointed out the resurgence of hate crime incidents and incendiary political rhetoric against people of African descent. She noted that, in many countries, political discourse was being instrumentalized against people of African descent as a means of gaining or consolidating power. She also noted that there had been a troubling attempt to justify racial discrimination and racial hatred, including at their intersections with gender and gender identity, disability, belief and sexual orientation, under the guise of freedom of speech or freedom of religion. She further noted the violence against women of African descent and transgender women of African descent. Ms. Day expressed concern regarding the rise of Big Data and artificial intelligence products that disproportionately burdened and penalized people on the basis of race and the pervasive racial discrimination that might result from algorithmic bias. Health-care coverage algorithms might allocate less care for people of African descent with the same medical symptoms and conditions as people in other groups. Ms. Day stated that the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent had had the opportunity to speak with people of African descent globally and that it remained stunning how similar their stories and their concerns were, country to country. 28. In his presentation, Mr. Modiri explained that, on the one hand, the world was still reeling from the effects, including protracted effects, of the unresolved and unbearable histories of enslavement, colonization, apartheid, neocolonialism, ethnic genocides and “tribalism”. The effects of those phenomena, he argued, included highly racialized socioeconomic inequality and inequalities in participation, decision-making and vulnerability to violence. He noted that anti-black, xenophobic, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi 4