A/HRC/4/21/Add.1 page 7 Communication sent on 31 July 2006 7. The Special Rapporteur was informed of the re-establishment of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The cabinet of Afghanistan has approved a draft plan to re-establish it and this draft will be submitted for parliamentary approval when the Afghan National Assembly reconvenes later in 2006. According to the information received, a similar department existed under the Taliban, which imposed and enforced a number of practices requiring men to grow beards and women to wear burkas. That department was also responsible for banning girl schools. Observations 8. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that she has not received a reply from the Government concerning the above mentioned allegation. She urges the Government to ensure compliance with article 2 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that each State Party “undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion […]”. Para. 13 of Human Rights Committee general comment 28 states that “States parties should provide information on any specific regulation of clothing to be worn by women in public. The Committee stresses that such regulations may involve a violation of a number of rights guaranteed by the Covenant, such as: article 26, on non-discrimination; article 7, if corporal punishment is imposed in order to enforce such a regulation; article 9, when failure to comply with the regulation is punished by arrest; article 12, if liberty of movement is subject to such a constraint; article 17, which guarantees all persons the right to privacy without arbitrary or unlawful interference; articles 18 and 19, when women are subjected to clothing requirements that are not in keeping with their religion or their right of self-expression; and, lastly, article 27, when the clothing requirements conflict with the culture to which the woman can lay a claim.” 9. The Special Rapporteur would like to refer to her framework for communications, more specifically to the international human rights norms and to the mandate practice concerning “Discrimination on the basis of religion or belief/inter-religious discrimination/tolerance” (see above para. 1, category III. 1.). Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur has already covered the question of religious symbols in detail in her 2006 report to the Commission on Human Rights (see E/CN.4/2006/5, paras. 36-60). She would like to reiterate that “[t]he fundamental objective should be to safeguard both the positive freedom of religion or belief as manifested in observance and practice by voluntarily wearing or displaying religious symbols, and also the negative freedom from being forced to wear or display religious symbols.” (see E/CN.4/2006/5, para. 60). Algeria Communication envoyée le 22 Juin 2006 10. La Rapporteuse spéciale a attiré l’attention du Gouvernement algérien sur l’information concernant l’ordonnance n° 06-03 du 28 février 2006, qui fixe les conditions et règles d’exercice des cultes autres que musulmans. Selon les informations reçues, le Président de l’Algérie a approuvé cette ordonnance parlementaire par une loi du 17 avril 2006. Selon l’article