A/RES/72/177 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 29 January 2018 Seventy-second session Agenda item 72 (b) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2017 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/72/439/Add.2)] 72/177. Freedom of religion or belief The General Assembly, Recalling article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1 article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2 and other relevant human rights provisions, Recalling also its resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981, by which it proclaimed the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, Recalling further its previous resolutions on freedom of religion or belief and on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief, including resolution 71/196 of 19 December 2016 and Human Rights Council resolution 34/10 of 23 March 2017, 3 Recognizing the important work carried out by the Human Rights Committee in providing guidance with respect to the scope of freedom of religion or belief, Noting the conclusions and recommendations of the expert workshops organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and contained in the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, adopted in Rabat on 5 October 2012, 4 Considering that religion or belief, for those who profess either, is one of the fundamental elements in their conception of life and that freedom of religion or belief, as a universal human right, should be fully respected and guaranteed, __________________ 1 2 3 4 17-22993 (E) See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex. Resolution 217 A (III). See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-second Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/72/53), chap. IV, sect. A. A/HRC/22/17/Add.4, appendix. 010218 *1722993*