A/57/274 I. Introduction 1. At its forty-second session, the Commission on Human Rights decided, by resolution 1986/20 of 10 March 1986, to appoint for one year a special rapporteur to examine incidents and governmental actions in all parts of the world inconsistent with the provisions of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, and to recommend remedial measures for such situations. 2. Pursuant to resolution 1986/20, the Special Rapporteur has submitted, since 1994, eight general reports to the Commission on Human Rights and eight interim reports to the General Assembly, together with a total of 17 addenda submitted to the Commission or the Assembly. The present report is submitted in accordance with General Assembly resolution 56/157. 3. The Special Rapporteur finds the increasingly restrictive limits imposed again this year on the special rapporteurs reporting to the General Assembly inappropriate and counter-productive. The decision to make 2 July 2002 the deadline for the submission of reports demonstrates a total ignorance of and even an indifference to the working methods and goals of the special rapporteurs. Whereas the Commission on Human Rights finished its work in April 2002, this year the Special Rapporteur is required to submit to the General Assembly a report on his activities covering only two months (May and June 2002), which is not long enough to do justice to the task at hand and poses a problem in terms of the cohesion of the reports. In the case of the mandate of freedom of religion or belief, there have been few comments and responses in the context of the present report, contrary to the experience of previous years, owing to the brief period covered and the methods of work specific to the mandate. It is vital that the functioning of the special procedures should not be reduced to a partly or wholly formal system. The constraints of volume and time imposed for the preparation of the present report are not conducive to a general analysis leading in all areas to precise recommendations. Accordingly, the Special Rapporteur, bearing in mind the communications which will be dealt with during the current year, will submit to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-ninth session a comprehensive analysis of the situation accompanied by a set of communications and recommendations. II. Report on communications sent by the Special Rapporteur and replies received from States since the issuance of the report submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-eighth session 4. This report covers a total of 22 communications (including two urgent appeals addressed to Nigeria and one to China) transmitted to 16 States: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China (3), Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria (2), Pakistan (2), Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia (3), Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States of America, Zimbabwe. 5. It also covers the replies of States to these communications (6 States: Azerbaijan, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Zimbabwe) and the replies to communications transmitted in the context of the preceding report, submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session (Bhutan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, United States of America). 6. In accordance with his methods of work and the rules governing his mandate, the Special Rapporteur wishes to clarify that the communications sent within the past two months are not summarized in the present report since the time limit given for answers from the States concerned (China, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Jordan, Republic of Korea, Sudan, Yugoslavia) has not expired and, of course, the State concerned has not replied. The Special Rapporteur wishes to point out that Saudi Arabia replied on 27 May 2002 to a communication from the Special Rapporteur of 16 May 2002. This communication and Saudi Arabia’s reply are therefore in the present report. The Special Rapporteur expresses his gratitude to Saudi Arabia for the prompt reply. A. Communications sent by the Special Rapporteur since the submission of his report to the Commission and replies received from States Saudi Arabia 7. The Special Rapporteur sent three communications to the Saudi Arabian Government. 3