A/HRC/31/74 Employment Equality Directive of 2000, which provide for the obligation to ensure availability of judicial remedies to victims, provide for grounds for taking positive actions and setting up of equality bodies. 165. The European Union also adopted the Framework Decision to combatting racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law, which sets the frame for a common response to hate speech and hate crimes, ensuring accountability for perpetrators. The Framework Decision provides for liability of legal persons, ex-officio investigations and prosecutions, and jurisdictional rules. There are also the Victims’ Rights Directive of 2012, including specific provision for bias motivated crimes and the directive concerning the broadcasting of cross—border audio-visual media services of 2010. These legal instruments envisage the minimum standards for harmonization but Member State can go beyond them. The challenge is not the transposition but their effective implementation. Laws are only as good as they can be implemented and monitored. 166. The speaker said that despite all the legal instruments, ethnic and religious minorities across the European Union continue to face racism, discrimination, verbal and physical violence. Recent reports show that racial and ethnic discrimination in areas such as healthcare or education persist within the European Union, with discrimination against Roma and immigrants, but also discrimination on the ground of religion or belief, being regarded as the most widespread form of discrimination in Europe. 167. She also emphasized the importance of preventive measures, systematic collection of data such as Eurobarometer and efforts to tackle underreporting of bias crimes. It is important to work with civil society organizations and to support them financially, enabling them to carry on their work in an independent manner. Capacity building and a multidisciplinary approach are also essential, and the demonstration of concrete data influences perceptions and limits populist discourse. Finally, a strong commitment was required from political leaders, local authorities and others. 168. The representative of Pakistan on behalf of OIC asked if hate speech has been criminalized in the European Union framework and about the definition of hate speech in terms of which crimes are covered. She also asked whether by the European Union instruments only racially- motivated crimes in the context of hate speech and xenophobia or whether it also covers religiously-motivated crimes which lead to incitement to hatred and imminent violence. She also asked if the Eurobarometer addresses discrimination on religious grounds apart from racism, given the issues of intersectionality of racism and religion, ethnic origin and migrants’ status. 169. The representative of the United States asked if definitions of hate speech and hate crimes and discrimination address sexual orientation and gender identity, and whether there were available statistics on this particular ground. He also inquired about the European Union position on affirmative action. 170. Ms. Ravo replied that the European Union framework does not include definition of hate speech, although there was one in the initial draft of 2001. She noted the importance of the element of incitement with regard to hate crimes. She confirmed that religion is addressed by the European Union instruments while sexual orientation and gender identity are not part of the minimum requirements, but some States have extended the scope and addressed these grounds. She added that disability is also not covered by the European Union directive. She said that the 2000 Race Equality Directive includes a provision leaving Member States free to adopt affirmative actions in different areas, but there is no obligation. 171. Lyal S. Sunga, Head of the Rule of Law Programme at the Hague Institute for Global Justice, gave a presentation entitled “Improving coordination among national human rights institutions (NHRIs) on discrimination: considerations and recommendations from a 48