A/HRC/49/44 Advance Unedited Version Distr.: General 2 March 2022 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-ninth session 28 February–1 April 2022 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Rights of persons belonging to religious or belief minorities in situations of conflict or insecurity Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief* Summary In this report, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, maps diverse experiences of religious or belief minorities during situations of conflict or insecurity. It explores the specific needs and vulnerabilities experienced by minorities in conflict and examines why and how these vulnerabilities arise through contextual analysis. Evidence gathered for the report questions narratives that overestimate the relationship between religion and conflict and fail to recognize the multiplicity of factors (political, social and economic) that contribute towards violence and insecurity, which overshadow and undermine prospects for peacebuilding. It further challenges prevailing discursive binaries that depict religion as either a source of violence or peacebuilding.1 The report proposes recommendations to protect and promote religious or belief minorities’ rights during crises and to lay the groundwork for inclusive peacebuilding efforts. * The present report was submitted after the deadline to include the most recent information. The 1 Special Rapporteur is grateful for the excellent research undertaken for the report by Rose Richter, Christine Ryan, Jennifer Tridgell, Mathilde Renaud and Ben Greenacre. He is also grateful to Damianos Serefidis/OHCHR for his contributions. He further thanks his Junior Researchers and Research Fellows for their contributions. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/325/Role-of-religion-in-conflictpeacebuilding_0_0.pdf.