E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1 page 9 law. They also recommended bridging the gaps between the Constitution and statutory protection of religious rights, while calling for the adoption in particular of a law along the lines of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which could be validated by the Supreme Court, or of a general law protecting freedom of religion or belief. B. Federal legislation 22. While there is no federal law dealing with freedom of religion or belief stricto sensu, there is a non-homogeneous body of legislation dealing directly or indirectly with certain expressions of these freedoms and certain violations and infringements affecting them, which provides some kind of protection by guaranteeing remedies. 23. Federal statutes make it a crime for: (a) A person acting under colour of law to deprive another person of any right protected by the Constitution or laws (United States Code (USC), Title 18, sect. 242); (b) Two or more persons to conspire to injure or intimidate another person in the free exercise of any such right, or because that person has exercised such a right (ibid., sect. 241); (c) And for any person, under colour of law, by force or threat of force, to injure, intimidate or interfere with another person because of that person’s race, colour, national origin or religion, because that person is attending a State school, applying for employment, or engaged in other such protected activities (ibid., sect. 245); (d) A person intentionally to deface, damage, or destroy any religious property because of its religious character, or intentionally to obstruct, by force or threat of force, another person’s free exercise of religious beliefs (ibid., sect. 247). 24. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 provides a remedy for individuals denied their First Amendment rights or discriminated against on the basis of religion (USC, Title 42, sect. 1983). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of, inter alia, religion. Title VII bars discrimination in employment practices while an exception is made for religious institutions to allow them to employ persons of a particular religious background if their work is related to the employer’s religious activities. Title VII also requires an employer to make “reasonable accommodation” of an employee’s religious practices if it is possible to do so without imposing undue hardship on the conduct of business. The Act also enables the Attorney-General of the United States to sue any state school that discriminates against students on the basis of their religion. 25. Over and above the question of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act discussed earlier, and faced with federal legislation which is fragmentary, non-governmental representatives called for the adoption of a general law on the freedom of religion or conviction, which might be based in particular on international human rights law. Such a law would provide a greater guarantee