A/HRC/18/36 21. The session was suspended in order for informal consultations to take place. The Chairperson informed the delegates that Mothusi Bruce Rabasha Palai, Permanent Representative of Botswana, would facilitate the informal sessions. The formal meetings of the Committee would resume on 18 April 2011. IV. Report of the facilitator on the informal consultations 22. At the fifth meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on 18 April 2011, the ChairpersonRapporteur opened the meeting and invited the facilitator of the informal consultations, Mr. Palai, Permanent Representative of Botswana, to present an oral report to the Ad Hoc Committee on the results of the consultations. 23. Mr. Palai noted that there had been constructive engagement and that the atmosphere had been overall quite positive. The open-mindedness shown – despite some differences of opinion – was remarkable. He explained that the topics that had been chosen were those with which the most delegations were most comfortable. Participants had generally acknowledged an absolute need to start work. A manageable workload had been sought, bearing in mind the Chairperson’s instructions to arrive at two or three topics. He reported that a seventh topic “Procedural gaps with regard to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination” had been added to those discussed at the request of Argentina, speaking on behalf of Armenia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Uruguay. With regard to the topics, after fruitful discussions, three to four had been considered a good focus for discussions: topic 1 “Xenophobia”; topic 2 “Advocacy and incitement to racial, ethnic, national and religious hatred”; topic 5 “Racism and sport”; and topic 6 “Establishment, designation or maintaining of national mechanisms with competences to protect and prevent against discrimination”. He noted that an understanding about the need to take a minimalist approach in order to get work started had been apparent. He reported that, as there had been no significant opposition to topic 1 “Xenophobia” and topic 6 “Establishment, designation or maintaining of national mechanisms with competences to protect and prevent against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, they were good topics on which to start work. In view of the need to keep the participants working together, topic 2 “Advocacy and incitement to racial, ethnic, national and religious hatred” had been dropped. 24. In response to questions about the future of the remaining five topics, Mr. Palai explained that those topics were still on the table, but that topics 1 and 6 would allow the Committee to commence work. He reiterated that the topics selected were not being given priority. With regard to a question about the introduction of new topics in the future, he stated that the informal consultations had not been tasked to exhaust the list of possible topics and that the remaining five topics and possible new topics were still open. 25. He mentioned questions raised during the informal consultations concerning methodology and the nature of the outcome. While feelings of discontent had been recognized, it had been felt during discussions that the Ad Hoc Committee could move forward on the basis of the two topics mentioned. 26. The Chairperson expressed appreciation to the facilitator for all the efforts during the informal consultations and confirmed that the selection of one or two topics for the purposes of starting work did not preclude later discussion of other topics. 27. Nigeria, speaking on behalf of the African Group, confirmed that the facilitator had discharged the assigned task very well; however, while the perception that the topic of xenophobia had been accepted was correct, topic 6 on national mechanisms gave rise to serious reservations for the African Group since it was a cross-cutting topic. The Group was 6