A/HRC/31/74 I. Introduction 1. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards submits the present report pursuant to Human Rights Council decision 3/103 and Council resolutions 6/21 and 10/30. II. Organization of the session 2. The Ad Hoc Committee held its seventh session from 13 to 24 July 2015. During the session, the Committee held 16 meetings. A. Attendance 3. The session was attended by representatives of Member States, non-Member States represented by observers, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council. B. Opening of the session 4. The 1st meeting of the seventh session of the Ad Hoc Committee was opened by the its secretary. The Chief of the Anti-Racial Discrimination Section of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) made an opening statement noting that racial discrimination is all too present today in modern societies across the globe and takes many contemporary forms. As such, the work of the Committee was not merely to agree on new standards but ultimately to think of ways to strengthen the protection of all persons from the scourges of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, as articulated in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. He recalled the opening remarks of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the previous session, indicating that the task of the Committee was to indicate how the international community could ensure greater decency — greater dignity, equality and fairness — for the millions of victims of those violations. C. Election of the Chair-Rapporteur 5. At the 1st meeting, the Ad Hoc Committee elected Abdul Samad Minty, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations Office at Geneva, as its ChairRapporteur, by acclamation. 6. The Chair-Rapporteur thanked the Ad hoc Committee for his re-election, noting that he would work collectively with all partners and members of the Committee. He recalled that, in paragraph 199 of the Durban Programme of Action, the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance had recommended that the Commission on Human Rights prepare complementary international standards to strengthen and update international instruments against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in all their aspects. He said that the Committee’s discussions would continue with the incremental approach adopted in previous sessions. In that regard, he considered it useful to explore possibilities for an international regulatory framework for xenophobia given that its more aggressive manifestations needed stronger measures. He noted in particular the blatant acts of racism and xenophobia in and around 3