A/HRC/28/66 I. Introduction 1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief was created by the Commission on Human Rights pursuant to its resolution 1986/20 and renewed by the Human Rights Council in its resolutions 6/37, 14/1 and 22/20.1 2. In its resolution 25/12, the Human Rights Council condemned “all forms of violence, intolerance and discrimination based on or in the name of religion or belief, and violations of the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, as well as any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the use of print, audiovisual or electronic media or any other means”. Against that background, the present report, in its section II, focuses on preventing violence committed in the name of religion and, in its section III, includes specific recommendations addressed to all relevant stakeholders. II. Preventing violence committed in the name of religion A. A complex phenomenon 3. Violence committed “in the name of religion”, that is, on the basis of or arrogated to religious tenets of the perpetrator,2 is a complex phenomenon in different parts of the world. The brutality displayed in manifestations of such violence often renders observers speechless. While in some countries violence in the name of religion remains a local or regional phenomenon, acts of terrorism carried out intentionally to send global messages have been increasingly prominent in recent years. In that context, prima facie “archaic” acts of cruelty seem to be cynically “staged” in order to cater to modern media voyeurism, which adds yet another dimension of humiliation to the suffering of victims and their families. 4. Violence in the name of religion can be in the form of targeted attacks on individuals or communities, communal violence, suicide attacks, terrorism, State repression, discriminative policies or legislation and other types of violent behaviour. It can also be embedded and perpetuated in the status quo in various forms of structural violence justified in the name of religion. Perpetrators comprise different types of non-State actors, but also State agencies or — quite often — a combination of both. In some countries, armed groups invoke religion to justify atrocities such as targeted mass killings, extrajudicial and summary executions, enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks against civilians, mass expulsions, enslavement or systematic destruction of certain communities. In other countries, vigilante groups harass religious minorities by vandalizing cemeteries and places of worship, grabbing lands or properties and threatening their security. 5. The main problem in a number of countries stems from the State’s failure in combating terrorism or violence of non-State actors, while certain State agencies in other countries support such violence directly or indirectly, for example, by promoting hatred against religious minorities or by turning a blind eye to violence, hence indulging a culture 1 2 For an overview of the activities of the Special Rapporteur between 1 August 2013 and 31 July 2014, see A/69/261, paras. 4–22. By contrast, violence “on the grounds of religion or belief” is based on the religious affiliation of the victim (see A/HRC/13/40, para. 33). 3