A/HRC/10/8/Add.2 page 14 3. Indication of religious affiliation on official identity cards 40. Every permanent resident of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory above the age of 16, whether a citizen or not, is required by law to carry an official identity card. There are four kinds of identity cards: Israeli, West Bank Palestinian, Gaza Palestinian and Jerusalem Palestinian identity cards. The Government of Israel started issuing identity cards to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip following their occupation in 1967. Subsequent to the Oslo Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, the Palestinian Authority issues its residents with Palestinian identity cards; however, Israeli authorities control the population registry and identity cards of Palestinians are issued on the basis of this registry. 41. The approach with regard to indicating the holders’ religious affiliation is different with the four kinds of identity cards. Since 2005, identity cards of Israeli citizens no longer state the holder’s ethnic affiliation; however, it can still be determined whether a citizen is Jewish or not when the birth date of Jews are indicated in Hebrew letters according to the Jewish calendar while listing that of others according to the Gregorian calendar. Identity cards of Palestinians with West Bank or Gaza identity cards show whether the cardholder is Muslim or Christian. No other options of religious affiliation are allowed and consequently those who are not believers are classified the same way as their parents. Palestinians holding Jerusalem identity cards were listed until 2002 as “Arab” on their identity card but this approach has been discontinued. 42. The degree of somebody’s ability to move in and out of Jerusalem or within the Occupied Palestinian Territory reportedly depends on which type of identity card he or she holds. The Special Rapporteur would like to reiterate that indicating the religious affiliation on official identity cards carries a serious risk of abuse or subsequent discrimination based on religion or belief, which has to be weighed against the possible reasons for disclosing the holder’s religion. In case the State wishes to include on official documents an indication of religious affiliation, it would be discriminatory to provide only the possibility to choose from a limited number of officially recognized religions. In addition, any indication of one’s religious affiliation on official documents should in general be on a voluntary basis (A/63/161, para. 73). 43. Furthermore, terrorist-profiling practices based on stereotypical assumptions that persons of a certain religion or ethnic origin are particularly likely to commit attacks may lead to practices that are incompatible with the principle of non-discrimination.15 Consequently, it seems advisable to have no direct or indirect reference to the individual’s religious or ethnic affiliation on official identity cards and in related application forms (A/63/161, para. 76). 15 Concerning terrorist-profiling based on ethnic origin and religion, see the report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism (A/HRC/4/26, paras. 32-62 and 83-89).