Combating intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, discrimination,
incitement to violence and violence against persons, based on religion or belief
A/RES/70/157
7.
Calls upon all States to take the following actions, as called for by the
Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, to foster a domestic
environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect by:
(a) Encouraging the creation of collaborative networks to build mutual
understanding, promoting dialogue and inspiring constructive action towards shared
policy goals and the pursuit of tangible outcomes, suc h as servicing projects in the
fields of education, health, conflict prevention, employment, integration and media
education;
(b) Creating an appropriate mechanism within Governments to, inter alia,
identify and address potential areas of tension between members of different
religious communities and assisting with conflict prevention and mediation;
(c) Encouraging the training of government officials in effective outreach
strategies;
(d) Encouraging the efforts of leaders to discuss within their communi ties
the causes of discrimination and developing strategies to counter those causes;
(e) Speaking out against intolerance, including advocacy of religious hatred
that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence;
(f) Adopting measures to criminalize incitement to imminent violence based
on religion or belief;
(g) Understanding the need to combat denigration and the negative religious
stereotyping of persons, as well as incitement to religious hatred, by strategizing
and harmonizing actions at the local, national, regional and international levels
through, inter alia, education and awareness-raising;
(h) Recognizing that the open, constructive and respectful debate of ideas, as
well as interreligious, interfaith and intercultural dialog ue, at the local, national,
regional and international levels, can play a positive role in combating religious
hatred, incitement and violence;
8.
Also calls upon all States:
(a) To take effective measures to ensure that public functionaries, in the
conduct of their public duties, do not discriminate against an individual on the basis
of religion or belief;
(b) To foster religious freedom and pluralism by promoting the ability of
members of all religious communities to manifest their religion and to cont ribute
openly and on an equal footing to society;
(c) To encourage the representation and meaningful participation of
individuals, irrespective of their religion or belief, in all sectors of society;
(d) To make a strong effort to counter religious profiling, which is
understood to be the invidious use of religion as a criterion in conducting
questioning, searches and other investigative law enforcement procedures;
9.
Further calls upon all States to adopt measures and policies to promote
full respect for and protection of places of worship and religious sites, cemeteries
and shrines and to take protective measures in cases where they are vulnerable to
vandalism or destruction;
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