E/CN.4/2006/5 page 7 12. The following issues were raised with the Governments: freedom to adopt, change or renounce a religion or belief as well as freedom from coercion; the right to manifest one’s religion or belief; freedom to worship; places of worship; religious symbols; registration; the right to appoint clergy; and the freedom of religion or belief of detainees. The question of conscientious objection was also addressed in several communications. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur has received an important number of reports alleging discrimination on the basis of religion or belief, including inter-religious discrimination, intolerance, as well as gender discrimination. Indeed, almost a quarter of the communications sent were related to the discrimination aspect of the mandate. The Special Rapporteur has, as in the previous period, sent communications to some Governments requesting information on legislative issues. 13. A significant proportion of the communications were sent concerning cases in which violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief were coupled with violations of other human rights. For instance, there have been cases where freedom of expression was also violated and where the situation concerned intra-religious conflicts and/or incitement to religious hatred. There were further communications sent with regard to alleged cases of torture or ill-treatment of persons held in custody on the basis of their religion or belief, one case of death in custody, as well as recurring cases of religiously motivated forms of punishment such as stoning and flogging. As mentioned above, in cases which raised a number of human rights violations, the Special Rapporteur acted jointly with other relevant mandates. 14. At the time of writing, the Special Rapporteur had received 38 responses from 25 States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, China, Greece, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Maldives, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Turkmenistan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam. The Special Rapporteur expresses her appreciation to those Governments that have provided comprehensive replies to her communications. The Special Rapporteur also thanks the Governments of China, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, the Russian Federation and Serbia and Montenegro for their replies to communications mentioned in previous reports to the Commission. 15. There has been an improvement in the quantity, but most significantly in the substance, of responses to the Special Rapporteur’s communications. These improvements may be due, in part, to the increased efforts to tailor each communication to a given situation, as well as to ask specific questions in every communication. While the Special Rapporteur is pleased by these developments, she is constantly trying to find means of improving the mechanism. In this regard, she has elaborated a framework for responding to individual communications. The framework, the content of which is developed in section III and described in detail in the annex, is intended primarily as a tool for the Special Rapporteur, to enable her to draw the attention of the relevant Government to the international standards that are relevant to the particular nature of each alleged violation. 16. A summary of communications sent from 12 November 2004 to 30 November 2005 and responses received from Governments by 30 January 2006 is contained in addendum 1, which also contains the Special Rapporteur’s observations on the concerns raised.