E/CN.4/1996/95 page 4 at the invitation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He also visited Iran in December 1995 at the invitation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (E/CN.4/1996/94/Add.2). 14. The Special Rapporteur was to have made a visit to Greece in September 1995. For health reasons he was compelled to postpone that visit. For convenience of scheduling, the visit by the Special Rapporteur to India, which has been approved by the Indian authorities, has also been postponed. 15. In 1995, the Special Rapporteur expressed the desire to visit Viet Nam and Turkey respectively and is still awaiting replies. 16. The Special Rapporteur strongly encourages all States to invite him to visit their countries in order to strengthen understanding and mutual cooperation, for the sake of eliminating all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief. He is also considering asking some Governments to allow him to visit their countries. He is of the view that, while it is still worth attaching importance to traditional visits, it would also be useful, in some circumstances, to make contact visits for the purpose of establishing a dialogue with some Governments and furthering understanding. 17. The Special Rapporteur also intends to resort to visits designed to highlight positive experience of tolerance in order to identify the factors and ways and means of contributing to the implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. IV. DEVELOPMENT OF A CULTURE OF TOLERANCE 18. As indicated in the Special Rapporteur’s previous reports to the Commission on Human Rights education can make a decisive contribution to inculcating values based on human rights and to the emergence, both at the individual as well as the group level, of attitudes and behaviour reflecting tolerance and non-discrimination, thus constituting an element in spreading a human rights culture. The schools, as an essential component of the educational system, can provide a prime and fertile terrain for lasting progress with respect to tolerance and non-discrimination in connection with religion and belief. Accordingly, the Special Rapporteur conducted a survey, by means of a questionnaire to States, on problems relating to freedom of religion and belief from the standpoint of the curricula and textbooks of primary or elementary and secondary education institutions. The results of such a survey could facilitate the formulation of an international educational strategy to combat all forms of intolerance and discrimination with regard to religion and belief, a strategy that could be centred on the definition and implementation of a minimum common programme of tolerance and non-discrimination. 19. The Special Rapporteur has received replies from the following 73 States: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Guatemala, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia,