A/58/296
IV. Follow-up to the International Consultative Conference on
School Education in relation with Freedom of Religion and
Belief, Tolerance and Non-discrimination
126. On 25 November 2001, the International Consultative Conference on School
Education in relation with Freedom of Religion and Belief, Tolerance and Nondiscrimination convened in Madrid and adopted by consensus in plenary session its
Final Document without qualifying statement or reservation.
127. In his report to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session, the
Special Rapporteur reported on, inter alia, the outcome of the Conference and asked
for the views and comments of the Commission on appropriate steps and actions to
further, through education, the prevention of all forms of intolerance and
discrimination based on religion or belief. By its resolution 2003/54, the
Commission on Human Rights again invited Governments to give consideration to
the Final Document adopted at the Conference.
128. From 7 to 9 December 2002, as part of the follow-up to the Conference, the
Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief organized a follow-up seminar at
which the Special Rapporteur again stressed that the events of 11 September 2001
had had a negative impact on implementation of the Conference recommendations,
despite the fact that they were among the most appropriate measures for eliminating
the causes of extremism and intolerance in the long term. The Special Rapporteur
also stated that priority should be given to identifying the “key” States at the
Conference as a means of subsequently gaining the support of States which had not
participated.
129. This seminar, the purpose of which was to suggest ways of achieving the goals
of the Madrid Conference, produced a strategy and a plan of action, revised at a
second meeting held in Rabat from 4 to 6 May 2003 and established five
subprojects: the 2004 Madrid Implementation Conference, which would consider
existing approaches to teaching for tolerance; development of an Internet database; a
volume on pedagogical models, material and methods; a volume on children’s and
students’ stories about tolerance; and a teacher training manual.
130. In addition, at a meeting held in Geneva by the International Association for
Religious Freedom on 4 April 2003 in connection with the fifty-ninth session of the
Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur stressed the need to respond
to the increasing restrictions on freedom of religion or belief since 11 September
2001 by planning for the future and to make young people aware of the need for
open-mindedness. He noted that, after all, the Madrid Conference was slowly but
surely having an impact and expressed the hope that States would be increasingly
bound by the commitments which they had made in Madrid and, in particular, that
they would remove all references to religious intolerance from textbooks.
131. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur attended an Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on freedom of religion or belief, held in
Vienna on 17 and 18 July 2003; one of its three major focus areas was “Promoting
Tolerance and Freedom of Religion or Belief”. Education was the primary subject of
discussion and some participants mentioned the achievements of the Madrid
Conference.
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