A/HRC/34/56 50. The right to hold and express opinions without interference, enshrined in article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, includes the right to hold and freely express opinions on religion, culture and tradition without interference, the latter subject only to the limitations specified. The right to freedom of expression includes the right to engage in expression considered anathema according to the religious or ideological beliefs of others, in accordance with international standards. This is also vital for cultural rights, including scientific freedom. In the absence of such a guarantee, human beings might still not know that the earth is not flat. 51. The freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed in the Covenant includes the right to be a religious believer and as the Human Rights Committee noted in general comment No. 22, the “right not to profess any religion or belief”. While the underlying right to freedom of religion in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is unconditional, the Covenant distinguishes this from the right to manifest one’s religion, which is subject to certain limitations. These are found in article 18 (3), in which it is stated: Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others. In its general comment No. 28, the Human Rights Committee determined that “article 18 [of the Covenant] may not be relied upon to justify discrimination against women by reference to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”. 52. Fundamentalists sometimes seek to advance their agenda internationally or to shield themselves from scrutiny by deploying the language of human rights and religious freedom in particular. The Special Rapporteur stresses in this respect the importance of article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as of common article 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which warn that nothing in these instruments shall be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms recognized therein. The original intention of the drafters was to impede the abusive exercise of certain rights of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by individuals and groups supportive of totalitarian ideologies, which have many commonalities with some extremist and fundamentalist movements. While these provisions can be the object of government misuse, they also serve as a purposeful marker of the need to consider the rights of others when interpreting certain rights in context. As underscored previously, it is crucial to combat fundamentalism, extremism and violent extremism, and to do so taking into consideration the human rights framework and in particular the regime of limitations to human rights. B. Analysis of fundamentalism and extremism in the United Nations system 53. The United Nations human rights system has commented sporadically on issues of fundamentalism and extremism and a more systematic approach should be developed. However, some important statements have been made expressing concern about fundamentalism and extremism as ideological bases for human rights violations. 54. In 2016, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association addressed the impact of fundamentalism on the rights within his mandate (see A/HRC/32/36). He highlighted the role of both State and non-State actors and that fundamentalism poses the greatest threat to human rights when it becomes closely allied with power, and is adopted or tacitly approved by entities with the means to impose 12