A/69/261 objections, it may be useful to find encouragement from the broad spectrum of success stories in this area. 3. Resistance towards reasonable accommodation 53. Despite many positive experiences, measures of reasonable accommodation continue to meet with scepticism or resistance. Sceptics and opponents seem to be driven by different fears. For instance, they may fear that such measures would privilege minorities at the expense of equality among colleagues, could undermine the “neutrality” of certain institutions, open the floodgates to all sorts of special demands, dilute corporate identity, poison the workplace atmosphere and lead to high economic costs and managerial complications. Within the confines of the present report, the Special Rapporteur can only sketch out brief responses to such typical objections. (a) Privileging minorities? 54. Against a widespread misunderstanding, the purpose of reasonable accommodation is not to “privilege” members of religious minorities at the expense of the principle of equality. In fact, the opposite is true. What reasonable accommodation encourages is the implementation of substantive equality. One should first note that within the framework of human rights, equality must not be mistaken for “sameness” or “uniformity”. Based on recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, 21 human rights empower all human beings — on the basis of equal respect and equal concern — to pursue their personal life plans, to enjoy respect for their unique and irreplaceable biographies, to freely express their diverse political opinions and to live in accordance with their diverse faith-related convictions and practices etc. In the context of human rights, equality always means a diversity friendly “complex equality”. Implementing equality in this sense will bring to bear the existing and emerging diversity among human beings in all sectors of society. This, inter alia, requires the elimination of discrimination, including indirect discrimination — and therein lies the precise purpose of reasonable accommodation. In short, instead of diluting the principle of equality, reasonable accommodati on contributes to a more complex — and thus more appropriate — conceptualization of substantive equality, based on equal respect and concern for all human beings with their diverse biographies, convictions, identities and needs. It does not privilege certain groups of people but finally contributes to a more diverse society to the benefit of all. (b) Endangering neutrality? 55. Some employers pursue a policy of “neutrality” vis-à-vis their customers in order to demonstrate that they cater to all parts of the society without distinguishing between adherents of different creeds. Such a policy of neutrality may be of particular importance for the public service or other State institutions — for example, the police or the judiciary — which are supposed to operate in the service of everyone without prejudice to different religious backgrounds. When discussing the issue of neutrality the different functions which State institutions carry out certainly must be taken into consideration. At any case, on closer an alysis, it __________________ 21 16/23 See the first sentence of the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 14-58756