A/HRC/25/58 I. Introduction 1. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief was created by the Commission on Human Rights pursuant to its resolution 1986/20 and renewed by the Human Rights Council in its resolutions 6/37, 14/1 and 22/20. The Council appointed Heiner Bielefeldt as the mandate holder as from 1 August 2010; in 2013, Mr. Bielefeldt’s appointment as Special Rapporteur was renewed for a further three-year term 2. In chapter II, the Special Rapporteur provides a brief overview of his activities since the submission of his previous report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/22/51). The Special Rapporteur focuses in chapter III on the need to tackle manifestations of collective religious hatred. In chapter IV, he provides conclusions in this regard and addresses recommendations to various stakeholders. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 3. The Special Rapporteur has conducted various activities pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 6/37, 14/11 and 22/20. In this chapter, he presents a brief overview of his mandate activities from 1 December 2012 to 30 November 2013. A. Country visits 4. The Special Rapporteur undertook two country visits during the reporting period: to Sierra Leone, from 30 June to 5 July 2013, and to Jordan, from 2 to 12 September 2013.1 He expresses his appreciation to all interlocutors and to the Government officials of Jordan and Sierra Leone for the excellent cooperation they extended to him during his visits. 5. Additional country visits are currently being scheduled. This includes an agreed visit to Kazakhstan during the first quarter of 2014 and an agreed visit to Viet Nam later in 2014. Updated information about the Special Rapporteur’s visits and related requests is available on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).2 B. Communications 6. The Special Rapporteur deals with individual cases or issues of concern brought to his attention. He seeks to clarify allegations of certain actions possibly incompatible with the provisions of the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief by sending allegation letters and urgent appeals to States. Since the creation of the mandate, the Special Rapporteurs have sent more than 1,290 allegation letters and urgent appeals to a total of 130 States. The communications sent by the Special Rapporteur between 1 December 2012 and 30 November 2013 are included in the latest communications reports (A/HRC/23/51, A/HRC/24/21 and A/HRC/25/74). 1 2 For the reports on the visits to Sierra Leone and to Jordan, see A/HRC/25/58/Add.1 and A/HRC/25/58/Add.2, respectively. See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/CountryandothervisitsSP.aspx. 3