A/HRC/6/5 page 6 religion or belief. The second category covers discrimination in relation to freedom of religion or belief. The third category deals with vulnerable groups, including women, children, refugees, members of minorities and persons deprived of their liberty. The fourth covers situations where the right to freedom of religion intersects with violations of other human rights, such as the right to freedom of expression and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The fifth category deals with cross-cutting issues including international provisions on limitations and derogations. A. Freedom of religion or belief 6. Human Rights Council resolution 4/10 states that “religion or belief, for those who profess either, is one of the fundamental elements in their conception of life and that freedom of religion or belief should be fully respected and guaranteed”. Due to the problem of finding a satisfactory definition of the “protected religion or belief”, the pertinent international human rights standards provide for a broad view of these concepts. Consequently, freedom of religion or belief is not limited in its application to traditional religions or to religions and beliefs with institutional characteristics or practices analogous to those of traditional religions. Furthermore, it has been established that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) “protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief”.2 The Special Rapporteur follows the approach of interpreting the scope of application of the freedom of religion or belief in a large sense, bearing in mind that manifestations of this freedom may be subject 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. 1. Freedom to adopt, change or renounce a religion or belief 7. Throughout her mandate, the Special Rapporteur received numerous allegations that an individual’s freedom to adopt, change or renounce a religion or belief had been infringed whereas article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion “includes freedom to change his religion or belief”. Furthermore, article 18 of ICCPR recognizes the right “to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice” and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981 Declaration) makes general provision for the “freedom to have a religion or whatever belief of his choice”. The Special Rapporteur would like to emphasize that the variety of formulations used to refer to the acknowledgement and development of religious freedom do not amount to a denial of the right to change religion. In the same line of reasoning, the Human Rights Committee observed in its general comment No. 22 that “the freedom to ‘have or to adopt’ a religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one’s current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views, as well as the right to retain one’s religion or belief”. 2 See Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 22, para. 2.