E/CN.4/2004/63 page 30 150. It emerges increasingly clearly that extremist tendencies, on the basis of a message that is first and foremost religious, use religion for purposes far removed from human rights in general and from freedom of religion or belief in particular. It is striking to see the differences of opinion, and sometimes the open contradiction, between the great majority of the members of a religious community and the extremists who claim allegiance to it. 151. This situation seems to be less recognized today than it was previously. It suffices to look at the extremism claiming its origins in Islam that has grown enormously since the 11 September 2001 attacks. In the report he submitted to the Commission at its fifty-eighth session, the Special Rapporteur expressed his acute concerns regarding the consequences for the system of protection of human rights in general, and freedom of religion or belief in particular, foreshadowed by these acts. Events over the past two years or so have more than confirmed these concerns. 152. Islamophobia in this context could well convert the historic failure of Islam-based extremism into an unexpected victory. The desire to confine Islam in a pathological straitjacket and to make it the axis of evil ultimately leads to conferring the stamp of legitimacy on forms of extremism for which Islam has been a pretext rather than a cause. 153. At the same time, the world has slipped dangerously towards a logic of war and repression that results in even more violent confrontations and can only fuel and sustain terrorism. Non-governmental organizations and international authorities continue to make known their concerns as to the logic of the “total security” that is being established under cover of anti-terrorism laws and a barrage of legislation intended to restrict immigration. The fight against terrorism sometimes ends up inserting freedom of religion or belief itself into the equation, as a result of the excesses it has encouraged in certain regions and by the blacklisting of entire communities and religions which are subjected to systematic suspicion and are discredited. The Special Rapporteur expresses the hope that, in their fight against terrorism, States will not mistake their target and, while continuing to combat terrorist acts, they will refocus their efforts on the origins of terrorism and on the need to ensure protection and promotion of human rights without bias or selectivity. 154. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur has observed during these years that violations of freedom of religion or belief are relatively often provoked or amplified by certain of the media in pursuit of sensations, stereotypes and clichés. Such violations, in some circumstances, are fuelled by public speechmaking, implicitly and sometimes explicitly calling for religious discrimination and hatred, in violation of articles 18 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In such a situation, freedom of expression cannot constitute an absolute justification because that freedom is modified by restrictions provided for by international law that must absolutely be applied by States when it is a matter of preventing the transmission of messages that are an incitement to religious intolerance or hatred. 155. The Special Rapporteur notes that inter-religious dialogue is struggling to make any headway of a serious and sincere nature despite the number of recent and particularly laudable initiatives in this regard. The road to religious dialogue is still fraught with