A/HRC/21/59 81. With regard to the assessment of gaps at international level, Mr. Hilario-Manënima pointed out the importance of creating incentives for government to eliminate xenophobia at national and local levels. He stated that many states in Latin America had remarkable anti-discrimination legislation but they were yet to be enforced. Member States should collect data on xenophobic incidents at various levels, which would provide information on progress made. 82. The United States of America commended his point on the importance of disaggregated data. He also noted that ICERD contained a very clear definition of racial discrimination and it was pointed out that the laws in the Americas region were also very clear; however, those laws are not implemented by some States. Moreover, a few authorities gathered the data, which was necessary to make changes at the policy level and to determine whether the policies had the desired effect or an unintended effect. 83. On the question of affirmative action asked by Senegal on behalf of the African Group, he noted that different groups of people should have the same educational opportunities in order to access the same university and job opportunities. Equal educational opportunities and equal access to healthcare services contributed to dignified equal competition. He noted that changes also occurred when there was an interest from delegates and commitments to talk to the respective government in order to tackle these issues collectively. II. Expert presentations and initial discussion on the topic of “Establishment, designation or maintaining of national mechanisms with competences to protect against and prevent all forms and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” 84. At its 8th meeting, on 13 April, the Ad Hoc Committee heard two presentations on the topic of ―Establishment, designation or maintaining of national mechanisms with competences to protect against and prevent all forms and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance‖ by Mr. Vladlen Stefanov, Chief of the National Institutions Section at OHCHR and Mr. Zanofer Ismalebbe, Human Rights Adviser with UNDP Geneva, respectively. 85. Mr. Ismalebbe gave a presentation on the process and contents of the published UNDP-OHCHR toolkit for collaboration with National Human Rights Institutions which was a guidance publication prepared in order to give guidance to UN and UNDP staff around the world. 86. The European Union noted the very good collaboration between the UNDP and OHCHR and asked about the role of national mechanisms and national institutions in implementing the ICERD and the DDPA. The delegate asked about human rights strategy and diversity and composition in staffing, and with reference to the thematic fact sheets asked whether there was one on non-discrimination. 87. Mr. Ismalebbe noted that the toolkit enabled staff to adapt the sample and tools to the local context. The terms of reference in the toolkit were to be used to build capacity and help foster staff diversity at the country level through the employment of sample and tools. He explained that there was no specific fact sheet on non-discrimination and equality since it was deemed a cross-cutting issue during the preparation of the toolkit and was therefore integrated throughout the document. 35