PART THREE: PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS III. RELIGIOUS OR BELIEF MINORITIES AND DISCRIMINATION Religious or belief minorities include “a wide range of religious, non-religious, non-theistic and other beliefs, such as unrecognized and non-traditional religions or beliefs, including animists, atheists, agnostics, humanists, ‘new religions’, etc.”957 Religious or belief minorities include non-believers, in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ rejection of all forms of coercion in the context of thought, conscience, religion or belief.958 The rights of these groups are covered by the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on minority issues,959 while issues regarding freedom of religion or belief are included within the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.960 PART THREE As with ethnic and linguistic minorities, the majority of discrimination faced by religious minorities will be no different to that concerning any other ground.961 For example, in cases of direct discrimination in which landlords refuse to let property to persons on the grounds of their religions, the legal steps, considerations or issues in those cases will not be different from those in cases of discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or age. That said, questions of discrimination against religious minorities (and by religious minorities) may involve matters relating to how to balance effective exercise of the rights set out in article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion – with the right to non-discrimination. The rights guaranteed in article 18 are frequently understood as being enjoyed “in community with” others. In practice, adjudication has clarified a number of aspects of these areas of law, while others remain unclear, or differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The present subsection contains an examination of some aspects of these questions. However, it does not contain a comprehensive summary of international law regarding the right to freedom of religion or belief.962 The sole aim is to cover issues concerning the balance between freedom of religion or belief, on the one hand, and equality and non-discrimination, on the other, with a particular focus on religious minorities. Attention is paid, first, to equality and non-discrimination in the exercise of freedom of religion or belief; second, discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in other areas of life; and, third, discrimination on the basis of other characteristics in situations in which religion is a pretext. A. Equality and non-discrimination in the exercise of freedom of religion or belief Citing the practice of the Human Rights Committee, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief has noted that the duty binding on a State as concerns the right to freedom of religion or belief involves: both negative obligations, like refraining from perpetuating discriminatory acts, and positive duties, such as the obligation to protect against third-party infringements, including incitement to religious hatred. States are also obliged to ensure that individuals belonging to minorities are able to practise 957 A/75/211, para. 76 (b). See paras. 51–59 and 76 therein for a discussion of this term. 958 Article 18 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights sets out that: “No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” Although the term conscience does not occur in this sentence, it is clearly included as the moral corollary of a person’s religion or belief. The strict rejection of coercion necessitates respect for an internal sphere of personal freedom in questions of thought, conscience, religion or belief, which must receive unconditional legal protection: “within the ambit of freedom of religion or belief, the forum internum, namely, the internal dimension of a person’s religious or beliefrelated conviction, enjoys absolute protection. … As pointed out by the Human Rights Committee, the forum internum also covers everyone’s freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief of one’s choice and this freedom is protected unconditionally.” See A/67/303, para. 19. 959 See www.ohchr.org/en/issues/minorities/srminorities/pages/srminorityissuesindex.aspx. 960 See www.ohchr.org/en/issues/freedomreligion/pages/freedomreligionindex.aspx. 961 Nazila Ghanea, “Are religious minorities really minorities?”, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, vol. 1, No. 1 (2012). Available at https://doi.org/10.1093/ojlr/rwr029. 962 For a detailed summary of international law on freedom of religion or belief, see Heiner Bielefeldt, Nazila Ghanea and Michael Wiener, Freedom of Religion or Belief: An International Law Commentary (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016). 139