E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.4 page 20 102. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Government to closely monitor the way educational institutions are implementing the law, in order to avoid the feelings of humiliation that were reported to her during her visit. She also recommends a flexible implementation of the law which would accommodate the schoolchildren for whom the display of religious symbols constitutes an essential part of their faith. 103. In all circumstances, the Government should uphold the principle of the best interests of the child and guarantee the fundamental right of access to education, as has been recommended by several United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies. 104. Moreover, the Government should take appropriate measures to better inform school authorities, and more generally the French population, about the exact nature and purpose of the law. It should be made clear that the wearing or display of religious symbols is an essential part of the right to manifest one’s religion or belief that can only be limited under restrictive conditions. The Government should also promptly provide redress in any situation where persons have been the victim of discrimination or other act of religious intolerance because of their religious symbols, including by prosecuting the perpetrators of such acts in the relevant cases. Acts of religious intolerance 105. The Jewish community, as well as its members, continue to be the target of a number of acts of religious intolerance. More recently, members of other religious communities, including Muslims, have reported that they were increasingly the victims of acts of religious intolerance. The Special Rapporteur has noted that the Government takes these acts very seriously and rarely underestimates their importance. 106. Regardless of the underlying reasons for these acts, the Special Rapporteur believes that the Government of France should remain, extremely vigilant and continue to take the appropriate measures to prosecute the perpetrators as well as to provide redress vis-à-vis the victims. The Government may consider ways to facilitate the judicial procedures for those victims in order to provide them with an even more appropriate form of redress. The question of cult groups and certain new religious movements or communities of belief 107. The Special Rapporteur understands the legitimate concerns regarding the victims of criminal acts that have been committed by certain religious groups or communities of belief. She considers that, in many cases, the Government of France, and its judicial apparatus, have adopted a responsible attitude and provided an appropriate response to the offences committed. 108. However, she is of the opinion that the policy and measures that have been adopted by the French authorities have provoked situations where the right to freedom of religion or belief of members of these groups has been unduly limited. Moreover, the public condemnation of some of these groups, as well as the stigmatization of their members, has led to certain forms of discrimination, in particular vis-à-vis their children.