A/72/365 I. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 1. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, was appointed by the Human Rights Council during its thirty-first session, in March 2016, and assumed his mandate on 1 November 2016. The Rapporteur’s activities up to 31 July 2017 included sending out 38 communications to 24 States and others and interacting with various stakeholders in Beirut, Brussels, Dublin, Geneva, London, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Washington, D.C. 2. The Special Rapporteur presented his annual report ( A/HRC/34/50) to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fourth session, held in March 2017, and participated in side events and bilateral meetings. He subsequently undertook a country visit to Albania, from 8 to 17 May 2017. He will present the report on that mission to the Council at its thirty-seventh session, in March 2018. II. Introduction 3. Acts of intolerance, on the basis or in the name of religion or belief, are prevalent globally. States continue to apply discriminatory laws and policies on those grounds and are responsible for effectuating practices that violate the right to freedom of religion or belief and other interrelated rights. Non -State actors in a number of regions, especially armed groups classified as terrorist organizations, continue to engage in violence, atrocities and hate crimes, 1 often in the name of religion, against minorities and their places of worship. Mob violence, often driven and justified by religious and sectarian divisions and hatred, is frequently being used as a means of enforcing religious or social norms. 4. Verbalized expressions of hatred, facilitated by social media and information technology, which play an ever-important role in providing a platform for the voices of stigmatization and negative stereotyping, are further exacerbating the climate of intolerance. At the same time, there are increasing trends towards politicizing and securitizing religion or belief. Governments, officials and politicians are increasingly promoting identity politics to stir up public anxieties, often under the guise of public order or safety. The Special Rapporteur further notes that although violent extremism perpetrated by non-State actors, often in the name of religion or belief, is a real threat that must be confronted, what is often overlooked is the role many governments play in exacerbating, fuelling and enabling an environment in which such extremism can flourish. 5. The climate of intolerance driven by rising xenophobia and nativism against those perceived to be different or foreign is also increasingly desensitizing the general public against incitement to discrimination or violence and other dangerous practices, such as stereotyping and stigmatization based on religion or belief or other characteristics. These phenomena can lead to alienation and victimization of individuals in vulnerable situations, including those belonging to religious minorities. 6. Combating discrimination and other forms of intolerance against persons based on religion or belief has been a primary objective for the international community since the inception of the United Nations, but the path towards developing and implementing a clear and sustainable plan for countering this phenomenon since then has been challenging. The General Assembly took its first steps to respond to the plight of victims of discrimination or violence based on religion in 1946, when it gave the Commission on Human Rights a mandate to advance efforts to prevent __________________ 1 4/24 “Hate crimes” refers to crimes motivated by animus towards individuals based on colour, nationality, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation/gender identity or other status. 17-14822