A/HRC/7/10/Add.3 page 22 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example to prevent worshippers from violating the rights of others (A/HRC/4/21, paras. 43-47). She fully agrees with Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead who recently stated: “Everyone, therefore, is entitled to hold whatever beliefs he wishes. But when questions of ‘manifestation’ arise, as they usually do in this type of case, a belief must satisfy some modest, objective minimum requirements. These threshold requirements are implicit in article 9 of the European Convention and comparable guarantees in other human rights instruments.”9 Vulnerable situation of women and converts 77. While the Special Rapporteur has not received any complaints of discriminatory State policies against women or converts on the basis of their religion or belief in the United Kingdom, yet many women are in a vulnerable situation within their own communities. The Special Rapporteur believes that equality must be all-encompassing and the argument by some religious leaders that traditions should override the rights of women is unacceptable. 78. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is concerned about the situation of converts who face problems with the community of their former religion. Even though some religious believers seem to accept a conversion only when it involves a change into their own religion such an approach does not acknowledge diversity and infringes on freedom of religion or belief. In that regard both article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights unequivocally state that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion also includes the freedom to change a religion or belief. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief are protected. Refugees and asylum-seekers 79. The Special Rapporteur was informed that asylum claims in the United Kingdom, including those based on well-founded fear of religious persecution, are subject to rigid scrutiny and that few applications are successful in the initial decision or in the appeal procedure. Since there is no official data available on how many asylum-seekers sought asylum in the United Kingdom on grounds of religious persecution, further research and aggregated data collection may be useful in order to analyse the issues involved with regard to freedom of religion or belief. Such research by the Government, civil society or academia may also deal with the situation of individuals converting after their departure from their country of origin and their refugee sur place claims. The Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate that a post-departure conversion should not give rise to a presumption that the claim is fabricated and the immigration authorities should evaluate the genuineness of the conversion on a case-by-case basis taking into account the 9 R. (Williamson) v. Secretary of State for Education and Employment (2005) UKHL 15, para. 23.