A/HRC/16/53 responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin”. 28. Given the enormous significance and potential of school education, such efforts necessarily also involve the school in all its curricular, social and organizational aspects. In this context, the Special Rapporteur would like to recommend the study of the final document adopted at the International Consultative Conference on School Education in relation to Freedom of Religion or Belief, Tolerance and Non-discrimination. This Consultative Conference took place in Madrid from 23 to 25 November 2001. It was initiated, among others, by the second mandate holder on freedom of religion or belief, Mr. Amor, who in his 2002 report to the Commission on Human Rights reproduced the full text of the Madrid final document and presented important findings (E/CN.4/2002/73, annex, appendix). In 2007, the third mandate holder, Ms. Jahangir, contributed comments during the development of the Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools.17 The following observations and recommendations should be read together with the Madrid final document and the Toledo Guiding Principles, which need to be recalled and further implemented. 29. School education can and should contribute to the elimination of negative stereotypes which frequently poison the relationship between different communities and have particularly detrimental effects on minorities. This is also true with regard to religious or belief communities of different – theistic, non-theistic or atheistic – orientations. Indeed, in many countries members of religious or belief minorities experience a shocking degree of public resentment or even hatred which is often nourished by a paradoxical combination of fear and contempt. Even tiny groups are sometimes portrayed as “dangerous” because they are alleged to undermine the social cohesion of the nation, due to some mysteriously “infectious” effects attributed to them. Such allegations can escalate into fully fledged conspiracy theories fabricated by competing groups, the media or even State authorities. At the same time, members of religious or belief minorities are often exposed to public contempt based for instance on rumours that they allegedly lack any moral values. It is exactly this combination of demonizing conspiracy projections and public contempt that typically triggers violence either directed against members of minorities or occurring between different communities. Hence the eradication of stereotypes and prejudices that constitute the root causes of fear, resentment and hatred is the most important contribution to preventing violence and concomitant human rights abuses. 30. School education has a complex role to play in this endeavour. On the one hand, school education should provide fair information about different religions and beliefs. On the other hand, the school offers unique possibilities for face-to-face communication between members of different communities. Both avenues are equally important in the attempt to overcome prejudices and should, wherever possible, be pursued in conjunction. 31. Information about religions and beliefs provided in school education must be distinguished conceptually from religious instruction based on a particular faith (see also paras. 47-56 below). Whereas religious instruction aims at familiarizing students with their own religious tradition, i.e. with theological doctrines and norms of their particular faith, information about religions, by contrast, serves the purpose of broadening the students’ general knowledge about different religions and beliefs, in particular those religions and beliefs they may encounter in the society in which they live. In this sense, providing 17 10 Prepared by the Advisory Council of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Available from www.osce.org/publications/odihr/2007/11/28314_993_en.pdf.