A/56/253 Human Rights, art. 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the provisions of the 1981 United Nations Declaration) as well as the resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights, the General Assembly and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Objective of the conference 114. A draft final document containing a set of recommendations should be submitted to the participants for comments and observations during the preparatory phase, before being debated and adopted by the conference on 25 November 2001, the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the 1981 Declaration. It should be noted that, after the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee (see details below) on 11 February 2001, a draft final document was given to the participants from States and other entities with a view to gathering their comments and observations. From 10 to 12 June 2001, at its second meeting, the Preparatory Committee considered the draft document on the basis of the comments received and approved it, while deciding to refer it to the States and other participants in the conference in order to record any possible objections. During the actual conference, a working group will be given responsibility for considering any objections received on the draft document in order to submit a final version to the plenary. 115. The Special Rapporteur wishes to make it clear that this conference is not intended to be a theological encounter, nor a conference on pedagogy. From beginning to end, its foundation is the protection and development of tolerance and non-discrimination, and it is fully intended to be a human rights conference under the mandate of freedom of religion and belief. 116. In its resolution 55/97 the General Assembly welcomed the initiative. Likewise, in its resolution 2001/42 the Commission on Human Rights welcomed the initiatives of Governments to collaborate with the Special Rapporteur, including the convening of an international consultative conference on school education in relation to freedom of religion and belief to be held in Madrid in November 2001, and encouraged the full participation of Governments, religious bodies, experts and non-governmental organizations in the conference. 117. In order to ensure the success of such a conference, a preparatory committee was established, composed of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, representatives of Spain and individuals who serve in their personal capacity and do not represent any State, non-governmental organization or religion: Taieb Baccouch (Tunisia), expert on the right to education and President of the Arab Institute for Human Rights; Doudou Diene (Senegal), Director of the Division of Intercultural Dialogue at UNESCO; Maurice Glélé Ahanhanzo (Benin), Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance; Ivan C. Iban (Spain), Professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and member of the European Consortium for Church and State Research; Michael Roan (United States of America), Director of the Tandem Project and expert in the field of freedom of religion and belief; Katarina Tomasevski (Croatia), Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the right to education; and Theo Van Boven (Netherlands), former director of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 33