A/69/261 adopted in 1958. The Special Rapporteur would like to take thi s opportunity to commend the monitoring work performed by the ILO Committee of Experts on the basis of Convention No. 111, which covers discrimination in employment on different grounds, including religion or belief. ILO also conducts a regular dialogue with religious traditions on the decent work agenda and has produced a handbook outlining some convergences. 8 3. Terminology 30. The Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate, at the outset, that the terms “religion” and “belief”, as they are used in the present report, must be broadly understood, in keeping with the interpretation in the Human Rights Committee’s general comment No. 22. As the Committee has pointed out, “[a]rticle 18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief.” 9 The general comment further clarifies that “[a]rticle 18 is not limited in its application to traditional religions or to religions and beliefs with institutional characteristics or practices analogous to tho se of traditional religions.” 10 The Special Rapporteur fully subscribes to this interpretation. He is furthermore guided by a broad understanding of discrimination which includes direct and indirect discrimination. While direct discrimination openly targets certain individuals, or groups, with the intention or effect of denying their claims to full equality, indirect discrimination usually starts with prima facie “neutral” general rules, policies or practices, which — although on the surface appearing to apply to everyone equally — nonetheless have a discriminatory impact on certain individuals or groups. Based on the assumption that indirect discrimination is usually more difficult to detect and combat than direct discrimination, the present report will accord specific attention to this problem as it relates to freedom of religion or belief in the workplace. B. Freedom of religion or belief in the workplace 1. Applicability of freedom of religion or belief in the workplace 31. When discussing issues of religious intolerance and discrimination in the workplace, the Special Rapporteur often encounters two general misunderstandings. The first misunderstanding relates to the scope of freedom of religion or belief. It is sometimes assumed that religion should be a “private” affair which chiefly concerns the family and religious worship in a narrow sense, but has little to do with people’s professional life. However, for many believers their religious conviction pervades all dimensions of human life: family relations, school education, etiquette, the general societal culture of communication, social and economic affairs, public and political life, and so on, and thus the workplace. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights supports such a comprehensive understanding. It covers everyone’s freedom “either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching”. Whereas the terms “teaching” and “worship” __________________ 8 9 10 8/23 ILO, Convergences: Decent Work and Social Justice in Religious Traditions — a handbook (Geneva, 2012). Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 22 (A/48/40, vol. I, annex VI), para. 2. Ibid. 14-58756