A/HRC/61/50
B.
Conferences, seminars and media engagement
101. The Special Rapporteur has attended numerous conferences and events in person since
25 July 2025. A small selection of those activities is outlined below.
102. On 4 September, she participated in a human rights conversation at the Geneva
Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, entitled “Mandates in
dialogue: strengthening collaboration across UN mechanisms and academic institutions”.
Co-hosted by the Geneva Human Rights Platform and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of
Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, the event explored how such cooperation could be
strategically enhanced.
103. On 19 September, during the sixtieth session of the Human Rights Council, the
Special Rapporteur spoke at a side event entitled “The Rabat Plan of Action in the digital
age: balancing freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief”, co-sponsored by
Albania, Canada, Iceland, Morocco, North Macedonia and Portugal.
104. On 22 September, on the European Action Day Against Islamophobia, she
addressed the Forum of European Muslim Youth and Student Organisations on the issue of
anti-Muslim hatred across Europe, noting that discriminatory rhetoric was becoming
increasingly normalized and linked with anti-migrant sentiment.
105. The Special Rapporteur travelled to Accra from 6 to 8 October, attending a Regional
Academy of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, a
global network of former and sitting parliamentarians advancing freedom of religion or belief
for everyone, everywhere. She also participated in another Regional Academy in Singapore
in November 2025.
106. On 14 October, the Special Rapporteur delivered the opening lecture on the occasion
of the twentieth anniversary of the Centre for Law and Religion at the Catholic University of
Chile, Santiago.
107. From 15 to 17 October, she travelled to Naples, Italy, where she was a panellist at the
Mediterranean Dialogue, the leading annual conference on the Mediterranean promoted by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy and the Italian Institute
for International Political Studies.
108. On 10 November, she was a plenary speaker at the opening of the international
conference at the University of Padova, “From the right to self-determination to the right to
peace”.
109. On 12 and 13 November, the Special Rapporteur participated as a keynote speaker at
the High-Level International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance Conference, held in
Prague under the auspices of the President of Czechia.
110. On 27 and 28 November, she was a panellist at the ninth Southeast Asia Freedom of
Religion or Belief Conference in Jakarta. From 1 to 3 December, she participated as a keynote
speaker at the ninth meeting of the South Asia Forum for Freedom of Religion or Belief,
entitled “Caste, religion and ethnicity in South Asia: FoRB as an instrument of inclusion”,
held in Kathmandu. She had exchanges with civil society organizations and academics at
both conferences, gaining a better understanding of how freedom of religion or belief could
be further promoted at the regional level and how to map good practices.
111. On 4 December, she participated online as a panellist in the intersessional side event
of the Human Rights Council entitled “Transnational repression and the erosion of human
rights: global responses and accountability”, co-hosted by Canada, Costa Rica, Estonia, Japan
and Sierra Leone.
112. The Special Rapporteur continued to promote avenues for collaboration with regional
and international human rights systems for stronger protection of freedom of religion or belief
through improved awareness, harmonization and cross-pollination. This included a trip to
Brussels from 8 to 9 December, where she met with Heads of Division and of country desks
of the European External Action Service, the European Commission’s coordinators for the
dialogue between the Commission and churches, religious associations and non-confessional
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