E/CN.4/1999/58 page 29 different political, social and religious systems. An analysis of communications transmitted since the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on Human Rights and the fifty-third session of the General Assembly reveals the following developments: (a) A decline in anti-religious State policies and the manipulation of religion in the interest of a political ideology; and yet (b) The persistence of such policies in several countries, and even the emergence of problems they have brought about, such as those connected with the restitution of confiscated religious property; (c) An upsurge of State policies directed against minorities in matters of religion and belief, and particularly against unrecognized communities, in other words “sects or new religious movements”; (d) A growing number of policies and practices of intolerance and discrimination on the part of non-State entities. The first category of such entities comprises religious and denominational bodies responsible mainly for inter- and intra-community violations. The representatives of these communities and their followers act against members of their own faith who belong to the same or different branches - examples being the status of women referred to in the seventh category of violations (see paras. 111 and 112) and the status of converts, referred to in the third category of violations (para. 107). These same representatives and believers are also at odds with communities of a different faith. The second category of non-State entities that sometimes overlaps the first comprises politico-religious parties or movements like the Taliban. These two categories raise the issue of the links between politics and the religion and their manipulation, which in this case is a source of intolerance and discrimination, the most extreme form of which is religious extremism; (e) An increase in the number of policies and practices of intolerance and discrimination against women as such, deriving from interpretations and traditions attributed by men to religion. No religion or belief is safe from this trend, which is apparent in various forms throughout the world. Major challenges are therefore posed in particular by the proliferation of manifestations of hatred, intolerance and violence based on sectarianism and extremism, and it is no easy task to make a clear distinction between religious conflicts and those of other kinds, particularly political and ethnic. 116. Guarantees of freedom of religion and belief require, in addition to the adoption of international human rights standards and national laws that conform to international law, mechanisms and procedures designed to put them into effect. The Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, in its Declaration and Programme of Action, called upon all Governments to take all appropriate measures in compliance with their international obligations and with due regard to their respective legal systems to counter intolerance and related violence based on religion or belief, including practices of discrimination