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Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso,
Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark,
Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, Holy See, Honduras,
India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lesotho,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco,
Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Oman,
Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania,
St. Lucia, San Marino, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia,
Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yugoslavia and Zambia.
67.
Recalling Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/18, which
encouraged him to examine the contribution that education could make to
the more effective promotion of religious tolerance, and Commission
resolutions 1995/23 and 1996/23 and General Assembly resolution 50/183, all of
which stress the importance of education in ensuring tolerance of religion and
belief, the Special Rapporteur invites all States which have not yet done so
to reply to the questionnaire he sent them in order to give the results of the
survey the fullest possible scope.
68.
The Special Rapporteur emphasizes once again that suitable resources
must be made available for the mandate on religious intolerance if the
information received is to be turned to proper advantage, analysed and used to
further the objective sought.
IV.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
69.
Besides his analysis of communications and replies from States and
the various visits he has made, the Special Rapporteur wishes to proffer
conclusions and recommendations on, in particular, some aspects of religious
freedom and the protection and promotion of that freedom.
A.
Dimensions of religious freedom
Right to change religion
70.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights sets forth, in article 18, the
principle that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion”, and clearly states that such a right “includes freedom to change
his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others,
and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching,
practise, worship and observance”.
71.
The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination follow in the direction set by the 1948 Declaration but do not
explicitly restate the right to change religion.
72.
Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
offers general recognition of the right “to have or to adopt” a religion of
one's choice.