United Nations General Assembly A/HRC/31/18/Add.2 Distr.: General 22 January 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-first session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on his mission to Bangladesh Note by the Secretariat The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of region or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, on his mission to Bangladesh from 31 August to 9 September 2015. He describes the tradition of interreligious coexistence in Bangladesh, which recently has increasingly come under attack, in particular as a result of rising religious extremism. While appreciating the Government’s commitment to further develop an inclusive secularity of the State, which is supposed to provide space for the free unfolding of religious diversity, the Special Rapporteur also noted ambiguities in the interpretation and implementation of that principle. He furthermore analyses the situation of people of various religious minorities, some of whom are also indigenous. Other themes of discussion include religious family laws, the situation of religious school education and criminal law sanctions relating to religious issues. GE.16-00893(E) *1600893*