E/CN.4/2006/5 page 11 on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. 34. She is also guided by relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights and other organs of the United Nations including the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. She is further guided by relevant general comments and concluding observations and jurisprudence of the treaty bodies, and the relevant provisions of international humanitarian law. The Special Rapporteur also takes into account relevant human rights instruments and jurisprudence at the regional level. C. The elements of freedom of religion or belief covered by the framework 35. The framework is divided into five different categories. The first category deals with elements of the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right to manifest one’s religion or belief. The second category covers discrimination in relation to the freedom of religion or belief. The third category deals with vulnerable groups, including women, children, refugees, members of minorities and persons deprived of their liberty. The fourth covers situations where the right to freedom of religion intersects with violations of other human rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The fifth category covers cross-cutting issues including international provisions on limitations and derogations. III. RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS A. Factual aspects 36. When dealing with the issue of religious symbols, two aspects of the question need to be taken into account. On the one hand, many individuals in various parts of the world are prevented from identifying themselves through the display of religious symbols, while on the other hand the reports and activities of the mandate have revealed the practice in some countries of requiring people to identify themselves through the display of religious symbols, including religious dress in public. The Special Rapporteur refers to the former as positive freedom of religion or belief, and to the latter as negative freedom of religion. The following paragraphs examine, from an international human rights perspective, both positive and negative freedom of religion or belief of individuals with regard to the wearing of religious symbols such as garments and ornaments. A different, albeit related, issue is the display of religious symbols in public locations such as courthouses, polling stations, classrooms, public squares, etc. Some aspects of these situations have been the subject of several national legal judgements at the highest level,1 but the question will not be covered in this section. 37. A comparative analysis of the factual aspects reveals a set of regulations or prohibitions on wearing religious symbols in more than 25 countries all over the world.2 Several religions are affected and religious symbols remain a subject of controversy in a number of countries. Examples of affected believers and their religious garments or ornaments include Muslims wearing headscarves, Jews wearing yarmulkes, Christians wearing crucifixes, collars and nuns’ habits, Hindus displaying a bindi, Buddhists wearing saffron robes, Sikhs wearing turbans or