A/HRC/37/28 greater equality for Afro-descendent women. However, some public policies adopted to date had overlooked ethnic-racial considerations, thus reducing their effectiveness. Mr. Viáfara López stressed the importance of having policies specifically aimed at women and girls from minorities and specific groups. Affirmative action policies should be driven by the State instead of the market, and campaigns should be conducted to ensure workplaces that are more balanced with respect to gender and ethnicity, and better employment opportunities for women. Revenue-generating opportunities for women of African descent would help improve their overall situation. 12. Ms. El Kaddouri commented on the impact that the rise of populist rhetoric and increased manifestations of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia had had on women’s and girls’ rights. Muslim women were one of the most vulnerable social groups in certain countries, given that they were discriminated against on multiple grounds, including sex, race and religion. She referred to the increasing number of reports of Muslim women being victims of racist and sexist hate crimes and hate speech. Restrictions on the wearing of religious or traditional symbols, such as the veil, affected the ability of women to freely decide and choose their dress and restricted the enjoyment of other rights. 13. Ms. El Kaddouri pointed out the double-negative impact of hate crimes and hate speech on women, particularly the physical and/or psychological trauma in cases of violent hate crimes and hate speech. The impacts of structural discrimination were, however, more complex. Structural discrimination had a psychological impact, generating feelings of exclusion, worthlessness, inferiority and alienation. That had also had an economic impact when women became or remained unemployed. Feelings of helplessness stemming from not having the opportunity to contribute and participate in society had affected women’s self-confidence and caused mental illness. Ms. El Kaddouri further raised concerns about the low participation of women with minority and migration backgrounds in the labour market. 14. Ms. Crickley underlined the pioneering role of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in studying the impact of the compounded negative effect of the intersection between gender and racial discrimination. She referred to general recommendation No. 25 (2000) on gender-related dimensions of racial discrimination, in which the Committee requested State parties to engage in applying a systematic approach to examining the phenomenon. Commenting on conclusions drawn from the work of the Committee since the adoption of general recommendation No. 25, Ms. Crickley noted that the Committee was able to indicate a clear correlation between racial and gender discrimination. The Committee had regularly provided States with recommendations to focus on intersectional discrimination through special measures and directly targeted interventions, which she believed were needed to address structural discrimination adequately. The Committee was aware of the insufficient attention paid to the link between gender and racial discrimination, which had resulted in inappropriate responses to challenges encountered by women facing intersectional discrimination. Although data remained scarce, information presented to the Committee in the form of State periodic reports had confirmed that sexual violence committed against women of specific ethnic groups, either in detention or during armed conflict, abuses of women domestic workers and the stigmatization of rape survivors remained topical and had dramatically increased in some parts of the world. 15. The Committee had devoted increasing attention to the intersectionality of gender and racial discrimination in the case of women of African descent and those belonging to minorities. It had also explicitly observed the vulnerability of migrant women, especially migrant domestic workers, to racial discrimination. Ms. Crickley welcomed the fact that the panel discussion was taking place on the second anniversary of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda. It was important that the language of human rights remained central to the consideration of intersectional discrimination. The Sustainable Development Goals provided a unique opportunity to address racial discrimination, especially in the context of Goals 5 and 10. Addressing intersectional discrimination would require that each goal be informed through a gender perspective. Looking beyond the Sustainable Development Goals, Ms. Crickley stressed that in order to make progress on intersectional discrimination, 4