A/55/280 130. Participants. Representatives of States, intergovernmental organizations, the main religions and other religious and spiritual communities, nongovernmental organizations and experts. religious freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination are, as the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights recalled, closely linked to the promotion of democracy and development. 131. Format. Preparatory consultations and discussions at the conference aimed at providing protection against intolerance and discrimination and enhancing the protection of human rights, especially the right to freedom of religion or belief. 135. Achieving this requires the implementation of long-term policies and measures to which the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance can, within the limits of his mandate, make a contribution. 132. For further information, the Geneva office of the Special Rapporteur can be contacted at the following numbers and e-mail addresses: Tel: (004122) 917 93 32/917 91 01/917 91 63 Fax: (004122) 917 90 06 E-mail: pgillibert.hchr@unog.ch gpassarelli.hchr@unog.ch eippoliti.hchr@unog.ch VII. Conclusions and recommendations 133. Once again, the situation with regard to intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief is alarming. The global trend towards increasing contacts in the social, cultural and economic spheres, inter alia through the new information technologies, is being accompanied by the persistence or growth of extremism and of policies and practices which are detrimental to society and its different components, including minorities and women. Globalization clearly poses a challenge: we must ensure that its benefits are not confined to the rich of the developed countries and the elites of any country, so that excluded population groups will not be tempted by, or fall victim to, extremism, intolerance and discrimination. Inequality in international and national relations prompts marginalized groups to seek refuge in, among other things, religion, and religion can be abused for extremist ends. 134. The implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief is of course indissociable from the question of respect for all human rights — economic, social and cultural rights, civil and political rights and the right to development. In other words, the promotion and protection of 28 136. The Special Rapporteur considers it essential that the General Assembly should, like the Commission on Human Rights, devote the fullest attention to religious extremism. States and the international community must condemn that phenomenon unequivocally and combat it relentlessly in order to preserve the human right to peace. The Special Rapporteur reiterates his recommendations that the international community should define and adopt a baseline of commonly accepted rules and principles of conduct and behaviour towards religious extremism and that a study on religious extremism should be conducted within the framework of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. 137. Concerning women, the Special Rapporteur, in keeping with the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights, including resolution 2000/33 stressing the need for a gender perspective to be applied and for gender-specific abuses to be identified, once again this year tried to devote particular attention to policies and practices which are discriminatory and generally detrimental to women. He sent communications to States and looked into the situation of women as it relates to religion and belief when making in situ visits. Attention is drawn, in particular, to the section on women in the Special Rapporteur’s report on the situation in Bangladesh (addendum 2 to this report). The Special Rapporteur also plans, in the context of the 2001 conference, to devote special attention to the gender dimension in relation to education and freedom of religion or belief. He also reiterates his recommendation that all the relevant structures and mechanisms of the United Nations should draft and adopt, as soon as possible, a plan of action which includes not only prevention but also efforts to combat discrimination attributable to religions or inadmissible practices. Lastly, between now and the end of the year, the Special Rapporteur will study the status of women in the various religions from a human rights perspective.