A/HRC/10/8 page 2 Summary The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief submits the present report to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolution 6/37. The report is divided into two main sections. In the first part, the Special Rapporteur outlines the activities carried out according to the four pillars of the mandate’s terms of reference since their review, rationalization and improvement in December 2007. She highlights the importance of initiatives in the fields of education, public awareness and interreligious dialogue, as well as State action against advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. Applying a gender perspective, the Special Rapporteur also addresses discriminatory and harmful practices against women and refers to several communications sent to Governments and to country reports. In the second part, the Special Rapporteur provides a preliminary analysis of discrimination based on religion or belief and its impact on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. With regard to the legal framework at the international level, she emphasizes that non-discrimination is an overarching principle that applies to all human rights, including freedom of religion or belief. She recalls that it is crucial to prevent discrimination with regard to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, since minorities and vulnerable groups are particularly affected when States do not abide by their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil these rights. The Special Rapporteur then highlights some of the recurrent issues encountered in the mandate practice in order to illustrate the adverse impact of discrimination based on religion or belief on the enjoyment of the rights to work, to adequate food and housing, to health, to education and to take part in cultural life. The Special Rapporteur concludes that discrimination based on religion or belief often emanates from deliberate State policies to ostracize certain religious or belief communities and to restrict or deny their access, for example, to health services, public education or public posts. States have the duty to refrain from discriminating against individuals or groups of individuals based on their religion and belief (obligation to respect); they are required to prevent such discrimination, including from non-State actors (obligation to protect); and States must take steps to ensure that, in practice, every person on their territory enjoys all human rights without discrimination of any kind (obligation to fulfil). Lastly, the Special Rapporteur recalls that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Consequently, there should not be a different approach between discrimination affecting the enjoyment of civil and political rights on the one hand, and discrimination affecting the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights on the other.