A/HRC/38/51 prepare an alternative text. Hence, presidential decree No. 1 of 2018 on population employment assistance measures was adopted on 21 January, allegedly to help citizens find jobs and to encourage self-employment. However, in essence, the new decree is similar to its precursor and states that all able-bodied unemployed citizens will have to pay for a number of social and public services that are normally heavily subsidized by the State. According to the Ministry of Labour, approximately 250,000 persons are targeted by the new decree and may still be officially labelled as “antisocial”, a term that was previously only used to designate alcoholics but that may be applied by local authorities to anyone with an antisocial lifestyle. 34 Victims of such labelling may be sent to medical labour camps. Encouragement to work actually takes the form of threats to cut social services for those not employed under the rules of what is described as “legal employment”. K. Discrimination 93. Despite several recommendations to adopt a specific anti-discrimination text, the Belarusian legal framework continues to lack a comprehensive provision prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, language, political conviction or physical or mental disability. The Special Rapporteur continues to receive information on cases of discrimination and regrets that victims have no legal remedies at their disposal. 1. Racial discrimination 94. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination considered the twentieth to twenty-third combined periodic reports of Belarus during its ninety-fourth session, on 30 November and 1 December 2017. The positive developments the Committee noted since its previous consideration of the eighteenth and nineteenth periodic reports of Belarus in 2013 relate only to legal changes, including the ratification of treaties dealing with trafficking in persons. 95. The Committee reiterated the concerns it had expressed during previous considerations of periodic reports of Belarus, namely the continuing absence of a legal definition of, and provisions prohibiting, racial discrimination. During its dialogue with the Committee, the delegation of Belarus indicated that Belarus was examining the need to introduce such legal provisions (see CERD/C/SR.2603, para. 8). The Special Rapporteur recalls that examination of the need for legal changes is a recurrent feature of the action plan on human rights, and notes that, in the case of racial discrimination, no progress regarding such examination can be seen. The Committee also reminded Belarus of the need to have in place comprehensive legislation criminalizing hate speech. 96. The Committee devoted a large part of its time to the situation of Roma, especially regarding racial profiling by State agents, and the discrimination they face in employment, particularly in the context of policies combating “social parasitism”. 2. Gender 97. In his previous reports, the Special Rapporteur described the entrenched discrimination that women face in Belarus. Patriarchal stereotypes, amplified by State policies and official positions and speeches, combined with the absence of specific legislation on gender equality, have allowed little space for improvement. On the occasion of Women’s Day 2018, President Lukashenko issued greetings to women, thanking them for their wisdom, care of children and youth, energy and diligence, and for maintaining comfort and harmony in the home. He added that their femininity and charm made others’ 34 16 See https://finance.tut.by/news579832.html (in Russian).