A/HRC/31/18/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief undertook a visit to Bangladesh from 31 August to 9 September 2015. He expresses his gratitude to the Government of Bangladesh for having accepted his request to visit and extended full cooperation and support throughout the visit. The Special Rapporteur is especially thankful to the senior human right advisor to the United Nations in Dhaka for his outstanding support and contribution to a successful country visit. He also appreciates the interest shown by other United Nations colleagues in the thematic issue. 2. He would like to furthermore extend his cordial thanks to the government representatives at the central and district levels, parliamentarians, the National Human Rights Commission, interlocutors from a broad range of civil society organizations, lawyers, members of different religious communities, representatives of indigenous peoples,1 colleagues from the United Nations family and many others who shared their experiences, assessments and visions. He had many frank and lively discussions with different interlocutors in Dhaka, but also in Bandarban and Rangamati. 3. Before going into the substance of the present report, it should be recalled that freedom of religion or belief is a right held by everyone, regardless of whether they belong to the religious majority or minority in the country. The application of freedom of religion or belief is broad and protects traditional believers as well as people with critical and dissenting views on religious matters. 4. According to the international understanding, freedom of religion or belief also protects “internal minorities”, i.e. people who belong to a particular branch of a religion or belief. In view of this universal application to every human being — in recognition of their inherent human dignity — the distinction between majority and minorities eventually may lose much of its significance. 5. Nonetheless, the treatment of religious and other minorities assumes the quality of a “test” question indicative of the general atmosphere in a society. In the following observations, the term “minorities” will quite often emerge. This should not lead to the misunderstanding that freedom of religion or belief is mainly a minority issue. These terms nevertheless are inevitable to describe empirical realities, including concomitant inequalities in power, influence, sense of security and other matters. II. Legal framework, national policies and infrastructure 6. The Constitution of Bangladesh provides that the State religion of the republic is Islam, but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in the republic (art. 2A). Meanwhile, the Constitution at its fifteenth amendment has restored secularism as a fundamental principle and aspires to eliminate: (a) communalism in all its forms; (b) the granting by the State of political status in favour of any religion; (c) the abuse of religion for political purposes; and (d) any discrimination against, or persecution of, persons practising a particular religion (art. 12). In other words, it promotes equal rights of other religions; tolerance and non-discrimination, as well as equitable approach in promoting different religious institutions and practices. 1 The 2011 amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh refers to the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh as “tribes”, “minor races” and “ethnic sects and communities”. 3