A/61/340 I. Introduction 1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief was created by Commission on Human Rights resolution 1986/20, to examine and make recommendations regarding incidents and governmental actions in all parts of the world inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. Since then 20 reports have been submitted to the Commission and 11 reports have been submitted to the General Assembly, together with a total of 22 addenda. The present report is submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 60/166. 2. The present Special Rapporteur was appointed by the Chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights in July 2004. She has submitted two general reports to the General Assembly (A/59/366 and A/60/399) and two reports to the Commission on Human Rights (E.CN/4/2005/61 and Corr.1 and Add.1 and 2 and E.CN/4/2006/5 and Add.1-4). 3. Since her appointment, the Special Rapporteur has undertaken in situ visits to Nigeria (27 February-7 March 2005, E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.2), Sri Lanka (2-12 May 2005, E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.3), France (18-29 September 2005, E/CN.4/2006/ 5/Add.4), Azerbaijan (26 February-5 March 2006, report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council) and the Maldives (6-9 August 2006, report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council). In addition, the Special Rapporteur, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, submitted a report on the applicability of international human rights law to the persons held at the detention facilities in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as well as the human rights situation of the detainees (E/CN.4/2006/120). This report was submitted after failed attempts to carry out a visit to Guantánamo Bay according to the terms of reference for fact-finding missions by special procedures. 4. The Special Rapporteur has also submitted two reports on communications sent to, and replies received from, Governments (E.CN/4/2005/61/Add.1 and E.CN/4/2006/5/Add.1) further to individual complaints and other reports of cases and situations raising concern in terms of the mandate. The Special Rapporteur considers that the mechanism of communications is important to victims and also provides a continued link between the mandate and Member States. 5. By decision 7/107, the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur, as well as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to report at its next session on the question of the increasing trend of defamation of religions and incitement to racial and religious hatred and its recent manifestations, … in particular its implications for article 20, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 6. In addition to her regular country visits, the Special Rapporteur travelled to the Vatican on 15 and 16 June where she held consultations with representatives of the Holy See. She was also invited in her official capacity to a number of dialogues, consultations, seminars and workshops organized on the issue of freedom of religion 06-52068 3