A/HRC/31/18 the ongoing efforts to eliminate the various root causes of religious intolerance and of related problems. 31. In the preamble of resolution 16/18, the Human Rights Council underlines the significance of freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression. It reaffirms “that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides, inter alia, that everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, which shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching”. It also reaffirms “the positive role that the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the full respect for the freedom to seek, receive and impart information can play in strengthening democracy and combating religious intolerance”. 32. The explicit reference to the rights to freedom of religion or belief and to freedom of opinion and expression is no coincidence, as the Council, in resolution 16/18, attaches great importance to communicative interaction, which has a key function in building trust between different religious or belief communities as well as in society at large. This includes a broad range of measures in the areas of education, awareness-building, outreach strategy, interreligious communication and public discourse. In that context, the Council specifically recognizes “that the open public debate of ideas, as well as interfaith and intercultural dialogue, at the local, national and international levels can be among the best protection against religious intolerance” (para. 4). 33. At the same time, the Council also calls for a clear rejection of certain speech acts and condemns “any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether it involves the use of print, audio-visual or electronic media or any other means” (para. 3). Furthermore, it calls for “measures to criminalize incitement to imminent violence based on religion or belief” (para. 5 (f)). Other measures recommended in resolution 16/18 include putting an end to the practice of religious profiling, which inevitably leads to stigmatization and providing effective protection for places of worship and religious sites, including in conflict situations. 2. Facilitating free and voluntary communication 34. From the combined perspectives of the two rights at issue, individuals are entitled to all aspects of communicative interaction. For instance, they have the right to seek, receive and impart information, express opinions and ideas, voice personal and/or political concerns, share their religious or philosophical convictions with others, try to persuade others or let themselves be persuaded, bear witness to their belief in private or publicly, engage in communication across State boundaries etc. For these and other acts to be manifestations of freedom, however, individuals also need to have the right not to participate in certain communicative acts, if they so wish. They are generally free to withdraw from unwanted communicative actions, remain disinterested in certain information, keep their political opinions or religious convictions for themselves, decline invitations to interreligious ceremonies or refrain from participating in public demonstrations. 35. Rights to freedom typically have their “positive” and “negative” 11 sides: they entitle individuals to perform certain acts or not to do so. Both aspects are equally important. Indeed, for communicative acts to merit their qualification as “free and voluntary”, individuals should generally be respected in their freedom to decide for themselves 11 10 The adjective “negative” does not carry a pejorative meaning in this context.