E/CN.4/2001/0063 page 45 Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities), is interpreted in the widest sense in this report, whether in reference to minority groups within the same religion or in relation to other religions, society, non-State entities and the State. More attention should be paid to the situation of minorities in the light of the 1981 Declaration. 182. First of all, the issue is one of discriminatory or intolerant policies, legislation or State practice, or even indifference on the part of State institutions which is prejudicial to minorities, be they of the “major religions” or other religious and faith-based communities. Such minorities are mainly affected by: (a) Threats to their very existence as a specific community (campaigns to eradicate Christian minorities in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptists in Turkmenistan and members of Falun Gong in China; anti-Muslim policies in Myanmar; the banning of the Faydal Djaria Muslim community in Chad; Egyptian jurisprudence and practice; and the situation of Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran); (b) Direct or indirect restrictions on displays of religion or belief (prohibition in fact or in law of certain public displays of minority religion or belief in the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal; refusal to register religious and faith-based communities, thereby threatening all or some activities connected with religion and belief in Kazakhstan, Nauru, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan; non-recognition of conscientious objection, no provision for alternative civilian service, and the punitive nature of this civilian service by reason of its duration, which particularly affects the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other religious and faith-based communities in Belarus, the Republic of Korea, Eritrea, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Ukraine; the absence or inadequacy of instruction in minority religions in educational establishments in Greece and Norway); (c) Manifestations of rejection such as fear of Islam, as in Papua New Guinea. 183. Minorities are also victims of the intolerance of non-State entities, especially religious communities, political and religious extremist organizations and the media. Minority communities are vulnerable in relation to other religions or beliefs (for example, the campaign of harassment organized by Muslim leaders against Baptist missionaries and believers at Say in the Niger; the excesses perpetrated by Muslim extremists against Christian communities in Pakistan; the anti-Muslim remarks by a high-ranking Catholic ecclesiastic and the participation of a priest in a demonstration against the construction of a mosque in Italy; and the situation in Papua New Guinea), or within the same religion or belief (for example, violent attacks by Orthodox Christians in Bulgaria on another organization belonging to a different rite; violence perpetrated by small groups such as the “Almighty Cossack Army of the Don” and the Bassilists against the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Georgia and the Russian Federation). The dividing line between religious and faith-based communities and political-extremist organizations is vague and sometimes non-existent. In any event, extremism such as that practised by the Taliban in Afghanistan has more serious implications for minorities. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur wishes to emphasize the particularly damaging role played by certain media outlets in helping to foment fear of Islam and Christianity, which creates insecurity and intolerance of Muslim minorities (as in South Africa and the United Kingdom) and Christian minorities (as in Turkey) in societies throughout the world.