A/HRC/34/53/Add.3 community liaison officers of Tamil and Muslim background in the police force in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, for example, would bring immediate benefits when handling sensitive cases such as sexual and domestic violence. Such a system should be provided with the necessary resources required to fulfil the mandate. 70. The Government must be commended for initiating the constitutional reform and the reconciliation process with a participatory approach, engaging the civil society, including minority communities, through public consultations. It is important that consultations be institutionalized at every stage of these key processes while keeping the communication channel open at all times. The public must be regularly and systematically informed of the status, the timelines and the outcomes as appropriate. The Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform, the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms and the National Human Rights Commission have drawn staff from diverse ethnic and religious groups, including women; this serves as a good practice for other offices. It will be essential that every decision-making process and mechanism inspire the confidence of all communities that their views and aspirations are included and that a sense of national ownership over the long-awaited process of truth-seeking, reconciliation and healing is being forged. Incitement to violence and freedom of religion or belief 71. The Special Rapporteur urges the strict application of the existing legislation to bring to justice perpetrators of hate speech aiming to incite discrimination or violence as well as hate crimes. Ending impunity for those who incite ethnic or religious hatred and violence must be a priority. The newly established Inter-Religious Council constitutes a positive practice and its role in mediating between different religious and belief communities and promoting tolerance and peaceful relations should be strengthened, particularly at the provincial level. The Government, including at the local level, should also ensure full protection of all minority places of worship as well as heritage. Linguistic rights 72. Sri Lanka has put in place an important legal and policy framework necessary for multilingualism. However, targeted and strengthened measures are necessary to enable their actual implementation, with sufficient resources. The placement of bilingual community liaison officers in every public institution, as recommended above, should facilitate overcoming the practical difficulties experienced by Tamil speakers in accessing public services as well as dealing with law enforcement and the courts. The Government should take the necessary measures to guarantee a quality education in all three languages by, inter alia, addressing the shortage of Tamilspeaking teachers. Education 73. Entrenched segregation in the education system reinforces the notion of differences and prevents children from fostering friendships across different identities. Recognizing the role of education as the foundation of unity, understanding and acceptance of differences that will pave the way for peaceful coexistence, the Special Rapporteur believes that the reform of the education system is an important longterm project that must be set in motion without delay. Steps to achieve integration within the school system should be based upon dialogue and confidence-building across communities. Moreover, the school curriculum should be reviewed with a view to ensuring that children learn about the shared values and commonalities of their 18