E/CN.4/2006/5 page 2 Summary The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief has been monitoring and encouraging compliance with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief since the creation of the mandate in 1986. In July 2004, Asma Jahangir was appointed Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief for a period of three years. The present report is divided into four sections. The first section sets out the activities that have been carried out under the mandate since the submission of the last report to the Commission (E/CN.4/2005/61). It summarizes the communications sent and in situ visits completed during the period under review. It also gives an overview of the current status of requests for invitations to carry out in situ visits. The Special Rapporteur considers that in situ visits are the best way to comprehensively and thoroughly assess the freedom of religion or belief in a particular country. She has carried out three such visits during the period under review, to Nigeria, Sri Lanka and France. She welcomes the recent invitations from the Governments of Azerbaijan and Israel to carry out visits to these countries in 2006. A total of 84 communications were sent to 36 different countries during the period from 12 November 2004 to 30 November 2005. Of these communications, 28 were urgent appeals and 56 were letters of allegation. Moreover, 34 of the communications, which addressed allegations of multiple human rights violations, were transmitted together with other special procedures. The Special Rapporteur considers that it is important to increase the effectiveness of communications. Accordingly, in the second section of the report she introduces a framework on communications, which she has developed to enable her to send more precise communications, drawing the attention of the government concerned to the relevant international standards. The framework is in the form of a table which lists the different types of situations that the Special Rapporteur addresses under her mandate. It is annexed to the report. In the third section of the report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on one issue, namely the display of religious symbols, which has recently been the subject of much debate. It examines, from an international human rights perspective, both the positive and the negative freedom of religion or belief of individual persons with regard to the wearing of religious symbols such as garments and ornaments. The fourth section of the report sets out her conclusions and recommendations. The summary of communications sent by the Special Rapporteur from 12 November 2004 to 30 November 2005 and the replies received from Governments by 30 January 2006 is found in addendum 1 to the report. Addendums 2 to 4 are the reports on