A/HRC/34/50 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 17 January 2017 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session 27 February-24 March 2017 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief Note by the Secretariat In the present report, the new mandate holder, Ahmed Shaheed, presents an overview of his perspective and vision for the mandate, identifying persistent challenges and emerging trends and presenting an agenda for operationalizing the right to freedom of religion or belief within and across the United Nations system and beyond. The report includes an outline of the methods of work and programmatic priorities that will constitute the guiding framework for the mandate for the next three years consistent with the growing emphasis placed by the Human Rights Council on the need to address persistent implementation gaps in compliance with human rights standards. GE.17-00701(E) 