A/HRC/19/60 legitimately become a matter of administrative “recognition procedures”, some procedures may indeed seem necessary to provide certain religious or belief communities with the status of a legal personality. However, given the practical significance of such a legal personality status for the full enjoyment of freedom of religion or belief, States should ensure that the respective procedures are quick, transparent, fair, inclusive and nondiscriminatory. Lastly, unlike the general status of a legal personality, the granting by States of a more specific legal position connected with some practical advantages such as tax exemption or financial subsidies does not necessarily follow from the right to freedom of religion or belief. However, if States decide to offer such a position, they should do this in accordance with the principles of equality and non-discrimination. B. Due respect for the status of rights holders 26. It is no coincidence that the term “recognition” already occurs at the very beginning of the mother document of international human rights protection, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights starts by postulating that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”. This first sentence of the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been cited in many subsequent international human rights standards, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It clearly has a fundamental significance for the understanding of human rights in general. 27. The term “recognition” as used in the opening sentence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represents the insight into the axiomatic status of human dignity on which the entire system of human rights protection is based. This dignity is further said to be “inherent” in all human beings, which means it has a normative rank prior to, and independent of, any acts of State approval. Indeed, the dignity of all members of the human family calls for unconditional respect for every human being by the State and society at large. 28. The concept of human dignity has a long history and strongly resonates within most different religious, philosophical and cultural traditions. For the concept of human dignity to function as a normative reference in international human rights law, however, it is crucial to make sure that the notion of dignity is not claimed as a monopoly by any of those traditions, but rather remains open for a wide diversity of religious or philosophical readings. This openness does not mean emptiness, though. For all the different interpretations of what human dignity may signify in the framework of philosophical or theological reasoning, this concept at the time has the precise and indispensable function of reminding us of the universalistic nature of those basic rights which all human beings have a claim to simply because they are human beings. 29. The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights furthermore links the “inherent dignity” of all human beings to their “equal and inalienable rights”. Respect for human dignity thus receives an institutional backing in terms of internationally binding rights. At the same time, it is this very focus on human dignity that accounts for the specific qualification of human rights as “equal and inalienable rights”. The principle of equality ultimately follows from the axiomatic status of human dignity which does not depend on any particular qualities, talents or societal status positions that an individual may happen to have or not to have. Likewise, the specific rank of human rights manifests itself in the “inalienability” of those rights that are aimed at the legal protection of everyone‟s dignity. The same connection between human dignity and human rights also occurs in the first sentence of article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in clear terms confirms that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” 9