A/HRC/9/12 page 19 V. RECOMMENDATIONS 60. In this chapter, the Special Rapporteur recapitulates for the last time the recommendations made in the previous reports to the Human Rights Council with a view to promoting measures to combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia. 61. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Human Rights Council call upon Governments of Member States to continue to work for implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, which should remain the cornerstone of efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. 62. The Special Rapporteur invites the Human Rights Council to appeal to the Governments of Member States to evince and demonstrate a firm political will and commitment to opposing the rise of racial and religious hatred. In this context, Governments should be particularly vigilant in preventing the political exploitation of discrimination and xenophobia, notably the ideological and electoral insinuation of racist and xenophobic platforms in the programmes of democratic parties, and should strongly reaffirm the principle that respect for human rights, including the eradication of the culture of racism, xenophobia and intolerance, constitutes the main pillar of national security and democracy and should not be placed in the service of ideological or political convenience. 63. The Special Rapporteur invites the Human Rights Council to take greater account than in the past, in combating racism and discrimination, of a twin development: the growing interlinking of the factors of race, ethnicity, culture and religion, which should be deconstructed as a matter of urgency; and the widespread rise of anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, Islamophobia and other forms of religious discrimination. 64. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Human Rights Council invite Governments, in combating racial and religious hatred, to fully comply with their obligations in relation to freedom of expression and freedom of religion, in keeping with the relevant international instruments and in particular articles 18, 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, having due regard to their interrelations and complementarity. 65. The Special Rapporteur strongly recommends that the Human Rights Council encourage a shift away from the sociological concept of the defamation of religions towards the legal norm of non-incitement to national, racial or religious hatred, on the basis of the legal provisions laid down in international human rights instruments, in particular articles 18 to 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Prejudice. 66. In the light of the divergent and conflicting interpretations of these articles, the Special Rapporteur wishes to recall the recommendation he made to the Human Rights Council in the report submitted jointly with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (A/HRC/2/3), namely to undertake deeper reflection on the interpretation of these