A/68/290 in this context. It has been a general experience that issues promoted under different human rights norms can collide. This is obviously also the case in the interplay of the two human rights norms discussed in the present report, namely, freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women. 21. The role of freedom of religion or belief within related conflicts is complex and is frequently misunderstood. Widespread misperceptions have even given rise to the idea that freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women are norms standing in opposition to each other. However, although complicated conflicts in this area are obvious, it remains important not to draw wrong conclusions from this experience. In particular, one should not turn concrete conflicts between (seemingly or factually) competing human rights issues into abstract antagonisms on the normative level itself. This would be a systematic mistake. It would also mean to give up the holistic understanding of human rights, with the risk that the human rights approach in general might become ever more fragmented. This in turn would have detrimental effects, in particular for the human rights of many millions of persons whose problems fall in the intersection of freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women. 22. In order to highlight the multifaceted practical problems and contribute to a clarification of important conceptual questions, the Special Rapporteur has decided to focus the present report on the relationship between freedom of religion or belief and equality between men and women. This is in accordance with his mandate which requests him to continue to apply a gender perspective in his activities. 4 In doing so, the Special Rapporteur builds upon the work of his predecessors in their reports to the Commission on Human Rights, the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council. 5 B. General observations on the role of freedom of religion or belief in the field of equality between men and women 1. The human person as rights holder 23. Prima facie it seems plausible to assume that freedom of religion or belief protects religious or belief-related traditions, practices and identities, since this is what the title of the right appears to suggest. This assumption, however, is misleading, because in line with the human rights approach in general, and article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in particular, freedom of religion or belief always protects human beings in their freedom and equality in dignity and rights. To cite a frequently used short formula, freedom of religion or belief protects “believers rather than beliefs”. Of course, both aspects are inextricably intertwined: no one can earnestly speak about believers without considering their beliefs and vice versa. And yet it remains true that human rights address that interrelatedness between believers and beliefs consistently from the angle of the human being. Hence it is only indirectly that religions or beliefs, encompassing their truth claims, __________________ 4 5 6/22 Human Rights Council resolution 6/37, para. 18 (d). See also Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1996/23, 1997/18, 1998/18, 1999/39, 2000/33, 2001/42, 2002/40, 2003/54, 2004/36 and 2005/40, as well as General Assembly resolutions 60/166 and 61/161. See, for example, E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2; A/HRC/4/21 (paras. 34-39); A/64/159 (paras. 59-63); and A/65/207 (paras. 14-16 and 69). 13-42191