A/HRC/15/45 A. The human rights principle of non-discrimination 6. Extremist political parties, movements and groups often defend and propagate an ideology that fosters racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and bring into question the overarching human rights principle of non-discrimination. Indeed, these parties, movements and groups frequently incite, either implicitly or explicitly, discrimination against certain groups of individuals in relation to, inter alia, their access to employment, education or housing, or to their rights to vote or to obtain nationality. 7. The rise of extremist political parties, movements and groups within a given society is often linked to the difficulty, or sometimes failure, of the traditional political parties to deal adequately with certain social and economic issues, such as immigration, unemployment and insecurity. Indeed, these parties, movements and groups frequently rely on general discontent within the population to blame specific groups of the population for the existing insecurity and socio-economic difficulties endured, and put forward often simplistic and populist solutions. In this context, through their ideology and activities, extremist political parties, movements and groups often exacerbate racist and xenophobic attitudes by designating certain vulnerable groups, such as migrants, refugees, asylumseekers or members of minorities, as the main source of the problems causing anxiety and uncertainty among the population. For instance, the Special Rapporteur notes that there are unfortunately deeply marked tendencies to characterize migration as a tangible threat to social cohesion, national identity or security. Indeed, in times of economic turmoil, the Special Rapporteur has, for instance, received reports indicating that migrants were being accused of ���stealing” employment from nationals. 8. In addition to the above, extremist parties, movements and groups also frequently incite discrimination by emphasizing that they are the only legitimate holders of the national identity of a given country. History abounds with examples of extremist political parties, movements and groups claiming that they were the only legitimate holders of the national identity of a given country and which adopted a very divisive approach in this regard. Indeed, these parties, movements and groups often used the concept of national identity in a simplistic manner to determine which individuals could be considered part of the group and which ones were the outsiders. In doing so, the concept of “otherness” was strongly emphasized as a tool to differentiate or create artificial differences between certain groups of the population. In extreme cases, this unfortunately led to a strict, and sometimes irreversible, categorization of individuals and consequently to the social exclusion and discriminatory treatment vis-à-vis certain individuals and groups of individuals. 9. The principle of non-discrimination is generally perceived as one of the most important in the field of human rights, and is therefore enshrined in all core international human rights conventions. In this context, the Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate that acts of discrimination, or incitement thereto, are clearly prohibited in international human rights law. As such, States have the duty to refrain from discriminating against individuals or groups of individuals based on, inter alia, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin; to prevent such discrimination, including from non-State actors; and to take steps to ensure that, in practice, every person on their territory enjoys all human rights without discrimination of any kind. 10. With regard to incitement to discrimination in particular, the Special Rapporteur would like to recall that article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law”. 4 GE.10-15022