A/HRC/43/48/Add.2 V. Conclusions and recommendations 89. Ten years after the end of the lengthy ethnic conflict, there has been no closure on a number of issues arising from that conflict, which the Government had pledged to address at the Human Rights Council. While some elementary steps have been taken, impunity and a lack of accountability remain a widespread concern, perpetuating a sense of insecurity among all religious communities. The transitional period has been marked by simmering tensions between the ethno-religious communities. These challenges appear to be related primarily to the State-religion relationship, which offers majoritarian privileges, undermining the equal protection of the law for minorities. Moreover, there were recurrent intercommunal violence and religious extremism in the years before the Easter bombings in 2019. 90. While the legal framework in Sri Lanka guarantees the right to freedom of religion or belief for everyone, in practice there are several challenges to the enjoyment of this right. Religious minorities face restrictions in the manifestation of their religion or belief, their places of worship are desecrated, and their religious activities, such as worship sessions, are disrupted by locals and the authorities. There is difficulty for minority religious communities to build new places of worship, while some places were forced to close down due to arbitrary registration requirements. Non-Roman Catholic Christians continue to be exposed to numerous incidents of violent attack due to a suspicion of “unethical conversion” and limitations on their right to proselytize. Aggressive campaigns by militant nationalist and religious groups against ethnic, religious and other minorities, particularly Muslims, are especially concerning. 91. The Special Rapporteur notes that the current education system deepens the division among different religious and ethnic groups and needs urgent reform, with a new curriculum that promotes the values of tolerance, embraces diversity and fosters a common or unifying “Sri Lankan identity”. Women and girls and LGBT+ persons are rendered more vulnerable in their positions when some religious teachings tend to marginalize them in their rights to equal treatment. Patriarchy and religious marriage laws discriminate against women and disadvantage them in many personal status related matters. In order to comply with international law standards on gender equality, it is vital to ensure a comprehensive reform of both the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act and the Marriage Registration Ordinance. 92. Against this background, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of Sri Lanka: (a) Take concrete steps to address all of the identified root causes of religious intolerance and tensions, and to promote trust among different ethnic and religious communities in Sri Lanka. He recommends drawing on the action plan described in Human Rights Council resolution 16/18, and the Beirut Declaration on Faith for Rights and its 18 commitments, in activities designed to promote interreligious dialogue and foster pluralism; (b) Urgently address impunity and the lack of accountability by fulfilling the pledges to various international human rights mechanisms, and set up relevant mechanisms accordingly; and investigate all incidents of violence and prosecute all perpetrators of incitement to violence, including the Easter bombings, subsequent violence and other human rights violations; (c) Combat violent extremism while ensuring that any strategies to prevent violent extremism or counter terrorism are in compliance with international human rights law; (d) Develop monitoring mechanisms to establish early warning systems and respond to hate speech and incitement to violence in conformity with international human rights standards using existing tools such as the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence and the Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence That Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes; 18