A/HRC/4/21 page 7 (E/CN.4/2006/120). In the period under review, two in situ visits were carried out, to Azerbaijan and to the Maldives. The Special Rapporteur takes this opportunity to thank the Governments concerned for the cooperation they extended to the mandate. Her reports on each of these visits can be found in documents A/HRC/4/21/Add.2 and A/HRC/4/21/Add.3, respectively. 15. Having visited Azerbaijan from 26 February to 5 March 2006, the Special Rapporteur considers that Azerbaijan is a country where there is a high level of religious tolerance and religious harmony. However, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that, in some cases, the concerned authorities may have blurred the thin line that distinguishes facilitation of religious freedoms from control. Certain situations related to the different aspects of this control have resulted in actual limitations of the collective right to freedom of religion or belief, such as difficulties in registration, restriction on religious literature, methods of appointment of clergy or obstacles for non-registered religious communities. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to give special attention to any form of religious intolerance towards religious minorities, to take the appropriate measures to address and prosecute all forms of incitement to religious hatred and to strengthen the independence and neutrality of the judiciary. 16. During her visit to the Maldives from 6 to 9 August 2006, the Special Rapporteur observed the desire of the Maldivian people to preserve national unity. However, she is concerned that the concept of national unity appears to have become inextricably linked to that of religious unity, which some of her interlocutors seemed to equate with religious homogeneity. Maldivian citizenship is based on religious belief. Political rights, stemming from holding of public office to the right to vote, are only guaranteed to Muslims. Non-Muslim foreign workers and professionals - even diplomats - in the Maldives cannot exercise their religious rights in public. There are no religious sites or places of worship apart from Islamic Mosques. While welcoming the recent adoption of the Law on the Human Rights Commission, the Special Rapporteur notes that it does not completely satisfy the requirements of the Paris Principles and that to unduly stress that members of the Human Rights Commission must be Muslim defeats the very spirit of seeking to uphold human rights. Subsequent to her visit, the Maldivian Government took the important step of acceding to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its First Optional Protocol. However, the Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government has entered a reservation to article 18 of ICCPR and she encourages the Government to keep this reservation under review. 17. In addition to these two traditional in situ visits, the Special Rapporteur has held also consultations with representatives of the Catholic Church when she travelled to the Vatican on 15 and 16 June 2006 (see A/61/340, paragraphs 37-42). Her intention was to initiate a dialogue with representatives of the Catholic community and to identify issues on which the Catholic Church could increase its cooperation with the mandate. The Special Rapporteur hopes to organize similar consultations with representatives of other major religious communities during her in situ visits in order to gain further experience related to inter-community relations in the area of religion or belief, especially from the angle of inter-religious dialogue and how the mandate may contribute to such initiatives. 18. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the decision of the Governments of Tajikistan, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Zimbabwe to extend an invitation to her. She is looking forward to carrying out in situ visits to the former two countries in 2007.