E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.1 page 7 (a) Principle of tolerance Religious holidays 29. The act entitled “National Holidays and Non-working Days” of 14 June 1976 provides that Holy Thursday is a holiday. 30. Act No. 24571 (1995), entitled “Declaration of Non-working Days for Jewish Inhabitants”, provides for paid holidays for the Jewish holy days of New Year (Rosh Hashanah), the Days of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and Passover (Pesach). 31. Act No. 24757 (1996), entitled “Declaration of Non-working Days for Muslim Inhabitants”, provides that the Muslim New Year (Hegira), the day after the end of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) and the day of the Holy Day of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) are holidays for all Muslims. 32. The two above-mentioned acts are supplemented by Act No. 25151 (1999), entitled “Pay of Workers on Jewish and Muslim Holidays”. Exemptions on religious grounds 33. Act No. 650/1968 (1968) provides for exemptions from school examinations on Saturdays for Jewish pupils. 34. Acts Nos. 1047/1968 (1968), 616/1977 (1977) and 1325/1987 (1987) also guarantee exemptions for pupils from the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Conscientious objection 35. Article 20 of Act No. 24429 (1995), entitled “Act on Voluntary Military Service”, recognizes conscientious objection on religious grounds, inter alia, and provides for alternative civil service. (b) Principle of non-discrimination Non-discrimination 36. Anti-Discrimination Act No. 23592 (1998) provides for criminal penalties for discriminatory acts and omissions on grounds of religion, race or sex. Article 2 of the Act reads: “The most lenient penalty on the scale of criminal penalties for offences punishable by the Penal Code and supplementary laws shall be increased by one third and the harshest penalty by one half when the offence was committed by means of persecution or out of hatred of a race or religion or for the purpose of destroying all or part of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”. Article 3 reads: “Anyone who takes part in an organization or produces propaganda based on ideas or theories of the superiority of one race or group of persons of a particular religion, ethnic origin or colour for the purpose of justifying or advocating racial or religious discrimination in any form shall be liable to one month to three years’ imprisonment. The same penalty shall apply to anyone who by any means encourages or incites persecution or hatred against any person or group of persons because of their race, religion …”.

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