A/71/269 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, was first appointed by the Human Rights Council on 18 June 2010 (see Council resolution 14/11) for a three-year term starting on 1 August 2010. In 2013, his mandate was renewed for another three-year term by the Council in its resolution 22/20, ending on 31 July 2016. However, on 1 July 2016, the President of the Human Rights Council announced that in order to avoid a protection gap, Mr. Bielefeldt would retain his functions as Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief until the entry into office of his successor, Ahmed Shaheed, who at that time was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of huma n rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 2. In section II of the present report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of his activities since the submission of his previous report to the General Assembly (A/70/286). In section III, he focuses on the broad range of violations of freedom of religion or belief and their manifold root causes, as well as additional variables, including from a gender perspective. In section IV, he sets out his thematic conclusions. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 3. The Special Rapporteur conducted various activities between 1 August 2015 and 31 July 2016, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 6/37, 14/11, 22/20 and 31/16. 4. An overview of the activities of the Special Rapporteur between 1 August and 30 November 2015 is included in his latest report to the Human Rights Council (see A/HRC/31/18, paras. 2 and 3). In February 2016, the Special Rapporteur contributed to the discussion at a conference on the theme “Combating religious intolerance: how to make the best use of the existing framework ”, which took stock of the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 16/18. 5. The Special Rapporteur presented his annual report (A/HRC/31/18) to the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council, in March 2016, where he also participated in side events and held bilateral meetings. Subsequently, he undertook a country visit to Denmark from 13 to 22 March 2016. The next mandate holder will present the report on the mission to the thirty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council, in March 2017. 6. The Special Rapporteur sent communications to Governments through urgent appeals, allegation letters and other letters. The latest communications reports (A/HRC/30/27, A/HRC/31/79 and A/HRC/32/53) include all communications sent between 1 March 2015 and 29 February 2016 and the replies received from Governments before 30 April 2016. He also made public statements and gave various interviews. 7. From 8 to 10 June 2016, the Special Rapporteur, in collaboration with the non-governmental organization Muslims for Progressive Values, hosted the first conference on freedom of religion or belief and sexuality in Geneva, attended by the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, who moderated the public conversation with civil society. The conference explored in depth the 16-13296 3/22