E/CN.4/2005/61 page 18 B. Anti-terrorist legislation 59. Over the last few years, many States have adopted legislation and other measures designed to fight against terrorism. Some of these laws and measures have, however, presented a simplistic link between terrorism and religion which, in turn, may have contributed to provoking even more acts of religious intolerance leading to violence. 60. The Special Rapporteur underlines that freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right that is not susceptible of derogation, even in time of emergency or because of national security concerns, as is clearly stated in article 4 of ICCPR. This aspect of freedom of religion or belief not only implies that no individual can be deprived of this right even in time of emergency, but also that States should avoid equating certain religions with terrorism as this may have adverse consequences on the right to freedom of religion or belief of all members of the concerned religious communities or communities of belief. C. Categorization of religions 61. Without addressing the question of whether a “State religion” is a system that is compatible with human rights, the Special Rapporteur has noted that in a few States, legislation has been adopted that recognizes certain religions and not others or that institutes a different status among certain categories of religions. While the Special Rapporteur has not been provided with sufficient information suggesting that in any of these cases the legislation actually causes violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, she is of the opinion that the legalization of a distinction between different categories of religion is liable to pave the way for future violations of the right to freedom of religion or for discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. 62. On this question, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to a report on a country visit made by her predecessors and according to which “the principle of freedom of religion or belief, as enshrined in international human rights law, is difficult to reconcile with a formal or legal distinction between different kinds of religious or faith-based communities insofar as such a distinction in their status must imply a difference in rights or treatment, which may, in some cases, constitute discrimination that is incompatible with the exercise of human rights”.6 V. OTHER ASPECTS OF THE MANDATE 63. The present report is the first one by the Special Rapporteur to the Commission since she was entrusted with the mandate on freedom of religion or belief. Therefore, she does not wish at this stage to take a formal position on some of the more complex aspects of the mandate. Nevertheless, she would like to raise the following issues, to which she will pay closer attention in her future activities. A. Religious symbols 64. The question of religious symbols has been widely discussed over the last year in many countries. In the last few years, discussions have mainly focused on the Islamic headscarf and whether women should be allowed to wear them in public places and, in particular, if the girl