A/HRC/4/111 page 19 10. We welcome the proposal to strengthen and coordinate United Nations mechanisms for monitoring the action taken by Governments of the region to comply with the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action; 11. We observe that racism and racial discrimination remain evident in access to health, education, housing, employment and the administration of justice in the countries of the Americas. We recommend that those countries adopt human rights training programmes with an anti-racism and anti-discrimination approach for public servants, including those working in the administration of justice, especially security service, prison and police personnel. In designing training programmes, the pernicious effects of discrimination in public spaces, particularly with respect to the application of the law and the administration of justice for indigenous and Afro-descendant young people will have to be taken into account; 12. We believe that other issues also requiring preventive action are intolerant racist and xenophobic political platforms, which make it difficult, for example, to enact punitive legislation against racism and discrimination, the repudiation of affirmative action policies and the identification between ethnic or racial origin and a situation of poverty. To avoid such misunderstandings, educational campaigns against discrimination and intolerance must be promoted; 13. We consider it necessary to promote effective application of the international human rights instruments ratified by the States of the region by means of specific actions. We highlight the suggestion that development policies should be drawn up for border areas, particularly where indigenous, Afro-descendant and gypsy populations are affected by migration and internal displacement; 14. We recommend that the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the General Assembly should incorporate the spirit of the documents adopted in Durban and Santiago, taking into account the interrelationship between obstacles to human development and the situation of vulnerable groups in the region; 15. We reaffirm that poverty is often closely linked to racism and discrimination and that these practices aggravate conditions of poverty, marginalization and social exclusion. We consider that the factors that lead to poverty among people of African descent and indigenous peoples are mainly structural and that discrimination is apparent in lack of equal opportunity and in disadvantages in access to basic services, education, labour markets, loans and technology. Moreover, we observe that these groups have traditionally been excluded from the political process and that racial and ethnic prejudices tend to aggravate this situation. In this connection, we recognize what is known as the “right to positive discrimination” and stress the need to adopt and implement affirmative action policies in order to make amends for historical injustices, remedy structural disadvantages and socio-racial discrimination and create diversified and proportionally representative groups in power structures;