A/HRC/25/58/Add.1 Act of 2007 requires that that the members of village welfare committees come from different religions (section 47.2 (g)), thus preventing religious monopolies. III. General findings A. An atmosphere of religious open-heartedness 12. Before visiting Sierra Leone, the Special Rapporteur had anticipated that the country would be characterized by a high degree of religious tolerance. What he experienced during his visit by far exceeded this expectation. All interlocutors, without exception, agreed that religious communities, in particular Muslims and Christians, live peacefully and harmoniously side by side. It was frequently contended that this harmony has existed “since time immemorial”, thus predating the establishment of a modern legal infrastructure. Moreover, most of the discussants he met presented their own family situation as an illustration of amicable religious diversity. Many of them are in interreligious marriages, in which the husband is Muslim and the wife is Christian, or vice versa, and everyone seems to have close relatives who confess and practise a religion different than their own. 13. Interlocutors also referred to their school days, when they had experienced religious diversity on a daily basis and mostly in a quite relaxed manner. Muslims recounted fond memories of their education in Anglican, Methodist, Catholic or other Christian schools, and Christians likewise provided positive accounts of their education and training in schools run by Sunnis or Ahmadis. When visiting elementary schools managed by different denominations, the Special Rapporteur had a chance to talk to teachers and students who come from different religious backgrounds, but work and learn together in a spirit of mutual respect. 14. The Special Rapporteur visited mosques and churches located in close proximity to each other, some of them within the same compounds, and heard numerous stories about people attending weddings, funerals and other ceremonies across denominational differences. A Christian person remarked that when the church is overcrowded, he might well decide to go to a mosque to pray. Such a statement, which in many countries would be fairly unusual or even unthinkable, seems rather indicative of the tolerant situation in Sierra Leone. Likewise, Muslims said that they have no difficulty praying in a Christian church. People generally expressed an interest in religious festivities across denominational lines. While many Christians reportedly join Muslims in celebrating the end of Ramadan, Muslims join Christians, for instance, in Christmas celebrations without blurring the differences between religions. The Special Rapporteur was told that radio stations run by a particular religious community at times broadcast prayers from a different religion. For instance, “Radio Maria” which, as its name suggests, is run by a Christian community, reportedly airs Koranic suras on Fridays. 15. While Muslims and Christians jointly constitute the large majority of the population, the country also includes small numbers of Baha’is, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other minority communities. The Special Rapporteur saw their houses of worship, which are quite visible both in the capital and in the countryside. 16. Religious diversity is not only a reality in Sierra Leone; it is widely regarded and cherished as an asset on which to build community life from the local to the national levels. As one interlocutor put it, “religious tolerance is the cornerstone of our peace”. Indeed, the tangible climate of religious tolerance in Sierra Leone is all the more astounding against the background of the country’s tragic history of civil war, which tore the nation apart. According to the 2004 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the various parties involved in the conflict committed grave human rights violations, including 6