A/61/340 conscience is absolute and cannot suffer any limitation. A mechanism designed to monitor conversions and thus the reasons and purposes behind them could in this way constitute a limitation on freedom of conscience. 60. The wording of such legislation is also often too vague. In many cases, legislation allows a wide margin of interpretation, which is the source of possible abuse and could potentially transform such laws into tools of persecution by those who do profess religious intolerance. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that the adoption of such legislation would provide legitimacy to those who want to promote religious intolerance and hatred vis-à-vis certain religious groups. 61. Legislation may not always be the appropriate response, in particular in circumstances involving matters of faith. While legislation can be easily resorted to, it can sometimes be counterproductive to do so. Cooperation with interreligious bodies and education programmes on religious tolerance and public awareness campaigns for the promotion of tolerance can have the advantage of promoting an interreligious dialogue, which is the best way to resolve tensions between religious communities. D. Religious symbols 62. The question of religious symbols is still widely discussed in many countries. In the last few years, discussions have mainly focused on the Islamic headscarf and whether women should be allowed to wear them in public places and, in particular, if the girl child should be permitted to wear the headscarf in public schools. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur carried out a visit to France in September 2005 (see E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.4). In her conclusions, the Special Rappporteur noted that the French legislation, which is applicable to symbols of all religions, mainly affected certain religious minorities and, notably, people of a Muslim background. She considered that the law was appropriate insofar as it is intended, in accordance with the principle of the best interests of the child, to protect the autonomy of minors who may be pressured or forced to wear a headscarf or other religious symbols. However, the law denies the right of those minors who have freely chosen to wear a religious symbol to school as part of their religious belief to do so. 63. The Special Rapporteur also wishes to emphasize that legislation which imposes dress codes on women or men on religious grounds is also in clear violation of the right to freedom of religion or belief and the principle of the 1981 Declaration. E. Counter-terrorism and freedom of religion or belief 64. The Special Rapporteur has underlined on numerous occasions that measures adopted by Governments in countering terrorism have significantly affected the right to freedom of religion or belief of numerous religious groups around the world. On many occasions, members of groups that have been perceived as having extreme religious views have been harassed, arrested and, on some occasions, deported. The Special Rapporteur has received many reports that preaching in mosques was controlled by State authorities and the nomination of imams strictly regulated. 12 06-52068