A/61/340 20. In the period under review, the Special Rapporteur has carried out country visits to Azerbaijan and the Maldives. 1. Visit to Azerbaijan 21. From 26 February to 5 March 2006, the Special Rapporteur visited Azerbaijan at her request and at the invitation of the Government, with a view to assessing the situation in light of reports of limitations on the right to freedom of religion or belief and reports of the persecution of certain religious groups. She takes this opportunity once again to express her gratitude for the extremely good cooperation that the Government of Azerbaijan extended to her. 22. Her report on the visit will be submitted to the next session of the Human Rights Council and will soon be made public on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.ohchr.ch). 23. During and after her visit, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that one of the most striking features of Azerbaijan regarding issues relevant to her mandate was the easygoing and dispassionate attitude shown by the Azerbaijanis towards religion. The main consequence of this attitude is an indisputable degree of tolerance among the population in general, which certainly constitutes an essential ingredient of the freedom of religion or belief in a society. 24. The Government generally respects freedom of religion or belief, but this respect is not uniformly observed in all regions of Azerbaijan. The Special Rapporteur indeed noticed that, in some cases, the concerned authorities may have blurred the thin line that distinguishes facilitation of religious freedoms from control. In particular, certain situations related to the different aspects of this control have resulted in actual limitations of the right to freedom of religion of religious communities: difficulties in registration, restriction on religious literature and methods of appointing clergy, or obstacles for non-registered religious communities. 25. In a few cases, this control has unfortunately become forms of real repression. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to rapidly take the appropriate measures so that such incidents do not recur. She was also particularly concerned that, out of fear, some religious communities expressed reluctance to meet with her. 26. Moreover, while maintaining her opinion about the general tolerance in the society, the Special Rapporteur was sad to note that tolerance between religious communities was sometimes significantly challenged. This is the result, inter alia, of the actions carried out by the relevant governmental bodies and of the negative role played by some media in stigmatizing certain religious communities. In this respect, she would like to stress the responsibility of the media and draw attention to the relevant provisions of international law that prohibit any form of incitement to religious hatred, such as article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 27. The existence of effective independent and impartial administrative and judicial mechanisms is of crucial importance to address these as well as other related human rights concerns. While she is aware of the difficulties that Azerbaijan has faced during this transition period, the Special Rapporteur strongly encourages the Government, as well as the other actors in the society, to work towards 6 06-52068