A/HRC/31/18 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 22/20. 2. An overview of the activities of the Special Rapporteur between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015 is provided in his interim report (see A/70/286, paras 4-11). The Special Rapporteur also undertook a country visit to Bangladesh from 31 August to 9 September 2015 and presented his annual report, which included a thematic focus on the rights of the child and his or her parents to freedom of religion or belief, to the General Assembly at its seventieth session in October 2015. 3. The Special Rapporteur participated in the regional Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief in South-East Asia, held in Bangkok on 30 September and 1 October 2015, at which multi-stakeholders participants from member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made a commitment to defend and promote freedom of religion or belief for all persons. 1 He also hosted a regional conference on the theme Broadening cross-boundary communications, in Nicosia on 7 and 8 October 2015, at which religious leaders, lawmakers and human rights defenders from the broader Middle East and North Africa region discussed ways to strengthen and promote cooperation in crossboundary communications in order to prevent religious violence. 4. The present report focuses on the relationship between the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief2 and the right to freedom of opinion and expression. After some systematic observations on the structural similarities between these two rights, the Special Rapporteur explores the interplay of the two rights in the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 16/18 on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against, persons based on religion or belief, bearing in mind, also, important insights formulated in the Rabat Plan of Action.3 He critically addresses the restrictive measures, including criminal laws, which adversely affect the two rights and provides practical conclusions and makes recommendations to different stakeholders. II. Two closely interrelated rights: freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression 5. In political discussions, legal debates and journalistic interviews, the Special Rapporteur regularly faces questions concerning the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression. Often, such questions reveal a sceptical attitude. The assumption seems to be that these two rights do not easily fit together. For instance, when people wonder how it might be possible to reconcile freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression, such wording displays a perception that the two rights stand in essential opposition to each other. The underlying idea may be that, whereas freedom of expression facilitates frank and open discussions, including satirical provocation and caricatures that may be offensive to some, freedom of religion or belief, by 1 2 3 See www.icj.org/faith-based-and-other-groups-commit-to-strengthen-freedom-of-religion-or-beliefin-southeast-asia/. Hereafter referred to as “freedom of religion or belief”. The Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence was adopted in Rabat on 5 October 2012 (see A/HRC/22/17/Add.4, appendix). 3