A/HRC/13/40/Add.4 principles as well as with laws and regulations of the country. In particular, the mandate of the Lao Front for National Construction to supervise the activities of religious communities and to ensure their conformity with the principles of the religious communities seems to lead to undue State interference in religious autonomy. While some regulation by the authorities may be necessary in order to protect individuals’ interests and beliefs, the Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that the State has a duty of neutrality and impartiality which bars it from pronouncing on the legitimacy of beliefs and their means of expression. 37. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the levels of freedom of religion or belief experienced across the country are typically informed by the approaches of the local officials. This appears to be a consequence of ambiguous legislation, a deficiency in proper training on freedom of religion or belief for local authorities and a prevalence of antipathy towards religious minorities among officials. A repressive approach with regard to the activities of religious minorities seems to be the default position among authorities, particularly at local level. However, the Special Rapporteur was also informed of positive examples of intervention by provincial authorities, overturning discriminatory decisions at the local level and engaging in awareness-raising campaigns for officials to prevent the recurrence of similar acts. 38. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that some religious communities seem to be compelled to share detailed information on their members, including their names and addresses, with the relevant authorities. Article 6 of the Decree requires organizations of each religious to establish a register and to put the names of organization members, priests and religious teachers on a specific inventory. The reporting practice to State authorities seems to vary: while some religious communities only share the details of selected staff of their administrative committees and general statistics, other religious communities regularly provide full details of all their adherents to the administrative authorities and the Lao Front for National Construction. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that members of religious minorities are often in a vulnerable situation, which is further aggravated when States specifically target them by registering their members’ names and scrutinizing these individuals (A/HRC/13/40, para. 34). 39. While the Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that the Government has since 2002 discontinued the mentioning of religious affiliation on national identity cards, she was also informed that the relevant application forms and older identity cards which remain in circulation still include a field with information on religious affiliation. She wishes to reiterate that indicating a person’s religious affiliation on official documents carries a serious risk of abuse or subsequent discrimination based on religion or belief, which has to be weighed against the possible reasons for disclosing the holder’s religion (A/63/161, para. 77). B. Forced conversions and evictions 40. The Special Rapporteur has received a number of serious allegations that members of the Christian community were coerced by local authorities into renouncing their faith in order to preserve the harmony and unity of society. In extreme cases, Christians have reportedly been evicted from their native homes by village or district authorities. During her mission, the Special Rapporteur received reports about two recent cases where evictions had been ordered by the village administration. Reportedly, the Christians were asked to renounce their faith, to leave the village or to sign a letter that they would burn the Bible. When they declined to sign these documents, they were allegedly arrested and detained by the local authorities. In addition, their children faced harassment and were denied access to public schools. The Human Rights Committee emphasizes that article 18, paragraph 2, of GE.10-10542 13