A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 53 124 Ibid. 125 The Special Rapporteur makes the same observation with regard to religion. See, for example, A/51/542, para. 47. Similarly, for racial discrimination, see E/CN.4/1995/15, para. 143. 126 Human rights and religious liberty: from the past to the future, Philadelphia, Ecumenical Press, 1986, p. vii, cited by Odio Benito, op. cit., para. 156. 127 As in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. 128 Thus, in national systems, de jure acts of discrimination are not racial, but religious, in nature. However, to the extent that they affect ethnic groups, they are also racial in nature (in the broad sense). 129 In the Waldman v. Canada case of 21 October 1999, the Human Rights Committee rejected the State party’s argument that the privileged treatment of a religion (a Catholic school) was not discriminatory because it was a Constitutional obligation. The Committee noted that the fact that a distinction is enshrined in the Constitution does not render it reasonable and objective (para. 10.4). 130 The Nature of Prejudice, Cambridge, Mass., Addison-Wesley, 1954, cited by Odio Benito, op. cit., para. 184 131 Op. cit., para 187. The author cites the example of the discrimination practised in South Africa, where white South Africans claim that their Christianity justifies the institution of apartheid; see also para. 163. 132 See Odio Benito, op. cit., paras. 186 and 156ff. 133 See Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/82, of 30 April 1999. 134 See, for example, article 20, paragraph 2 of the Covenant, which provides that “Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law”. Note that this refers to measures to be adopted by States in their domestic legislation. See likewise article 7 of the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 135 This explains many of the gaps and shortcomings of a number of the regional instruments studied. 136 See Odio Benito, “Historique de la liberté religieuse et de la Déclaration sur l'élimination de toutes les formes d'intolérance et de discrimination fondées sur la religion ou la conviction”, Conscience et liberté, 1985, No. 30, pp. 40-48; J.A. Walkate, “La Déclaration des Nations Unies sur l'élimination de toutes les formes d'intolérance et de discrimination fondées sur la religion ou la conviction de 1981: aperçu historique”, Conscience et liberté, 1991, No. 42, pp. 7-13.

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