A/70/286 I. Introduction 1. The Commission on Human Rights created the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief in resolution 1986/20. In 2007 and 2010 the Human Rights Council renewed the mandate in resolutions 6/37 and 14/11 and in 2013 the Council extended the mandate for a further period of three years in resolution 22/20. 2. The General Assembly, in its resolution 69/175, recognized with concern the situation of persons in vulnerable situations, including children, as regards their ability to freely exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief. It also referred to the need to address urgently situations of violence and discrimination that affect many individuals, particularly women and children, on the basis or in the name of religion or belief, or in accordance with cultural and traditional practices. 3. In section II of the present report, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of his activities since the submission of his previous report to the General Assembly (A/69/261). In section III, he focuses on the rights of the child and his or her parents in the area of freedom of religion or belief. In section IV he sets out his thematic conclusions and recommendations. II. Activities of the Special Rapporteur 4. The Special Rapporteur conducted various activities between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 6/37, 14/11 and 22/20. 5. He presented his annual reports to the sixty-ninth session of the General Assembly in October 2014 and to the twenty-eighth session of the Human Rights Council in March 2015, where he also participated in side events and held bilateral meetings. 6. He undertook a country visit to Lebanon from 23 March to 2 April 2015 and will present his report on the mission to the thirty-first session of the Human Rights Council. 7. The Special Rapporteur sent communications to Governments through urgent appeals, allegation letters and other letters. The latest communications reports (A/HRC/27/72, A/HRC/28/85 and A/HRC/29/50) include all communications sent between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015 and the replies received from Governments before 30 April 2015. He also made public statements and gave various interviews. 8. In November 2014, the Special Rapporteur participated in a meeting of the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, held in Oslo, where parliamentarians from 17 countries signed the Charter for Freedom of Religion or Belief. 1 9. On 4 December 2014, the Special Rapporteur met again with Cypriot religious leaders at the second interreligious round table convened by the Office of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process under the auspices of the Embassy of __________________ 1 15-12514 Available from ippforb.com/charter-for-freedom-of-religion-or-belief/. 3/22