A/58/296 I. Introduction 1. At its forty-second session, the Commission on Human Rights decided, by resolution 1986/20 of 10 March 1986, to appoint for one year a special rapporteur to examine incidents and governmental actions in all parts of the world inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief, and to recommend remedial measures for such situations. 2. Pursuant to resolution 1986/20, the Special Rapporteur has submitted, since 1994, 10 general reports to the Commission on Human Rights and 8 interim reports to the General Assembly, together with a total of 18 addenda submitted to the Commission or the Assembly. The present report is submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 57/208. 3. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the slotting system introduced by the documentation service. This system has enabled the Special Rapporteur to report on a longer period of activity than he did the previous year. II. Report on communications sent by the Special Rapporteur and replies received from States since the issuance of the report submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session 4. This report covers a total of 41 communications transmitted to 33 States. It also covers the replies of States to these communications (Armenia, Russian Federation, Turkey, Viet Nam) and the replies to communications transmitted in the context of previous reports submitted to the Commission on Human Rights (Pakistan). Lastly, the Special Rapporteur expresses his gratitude to Egypt, the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan for their replies, whose content cannot, for technical reasons, be reflected in the present report. These replies and any received after 1 August 2003 will be covered in his next report to the Commission on Human Rights. 5. In accordance with his methods of work (and the rules governing his mandate), the Special Rapporteur wishes to clarify that the communications sent within the past two months are not summarized in the present report since the time limit given for answers from the States concerned has not expired. A. Communications sent by the Special Rapporteur since the submission of his report to the Commission and replies received from States Afghanistan 6. On 11 April 2003, the Special Rapporteur sent the Afghan Government a communication concerning the broadcasting ban imposed on a television station on 19 January 2003 for showing half-naked female singers and certain films containing obscene passages. That same day, police allegedly shut down five cable television operators in Kabul. 4