A/HRC/6/6 page 5 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 4/9 entitled “Combating defamation of religions”, in which the Council invited the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to report on all manifestations of defamation of religions and in particular on the serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all rights at its sixth session. 2. The report is to be read in conjunction with previous reports submitted by the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council and the former Commission on Human Rights, in particular: the joint report to the Human Rights Council with the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on “Incitement to racial and religious hatred” (A/HRC/2/3), the reports to the Commission on Human Rights on “The situation of Muslim and Arab peoples in various parts of the world, with special reference to physical assaults and attacks against their places of worship, cultural centres, businesses and properties in the aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001” (E/CN.4/2003/23, E/CN.4/2005/19, E/CN.4/2006/17) and the report on “Defamation of religions and global efforts to combat racism: Anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia” (E/CN.4/2005/18/Add.4). 3. Following the Human Rights Council’s request, the Special Rapporteur will focus on the issue of Islamophobia. However, the Special Rapporteur wishes to point out that this focus does not imply the establishment of any hierarchy in discrimination against different religions. As he conveyed in his previous reports, strategies to combat anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and Islamophobia should promote equal treatment of these phobias and avoidance of any prioritization of efforts to combat all forms of discrimination. 4. Chapter I of the report provides an analysis of the phenomenon of defamation of religions and its different forms in the current political and ideological context. Chapter II is focused on particular religion-based discrimination, including Islamophobia in all its expressions, in particular following the events of 11 September 2001, Anti-Semitism, Christianophobia and discrimination of other religions and spiritual traditions and practices. In chapter III, the Special Rapporteur seeks to elucidate the dialectic between the specificity of each of these forms of discrimination and the universality of efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Chapter IV sets forth some of the most relevant initiatives to counter the phenomenon of defamation of religions. Chapter V contains the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions and recommendations. I. THE CURRENT POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT 5. The analysis of the increasing trend in defamation of religions cannot be dissociated from a profound reflection on the ominous trends of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance that are developing in the current political and ideological context. 6. In the fight against racism, several key factors make it necessary to attach high priority to the upsurge in incitement to racial and religious hatred. At the political level, the principal factor stems from the trivialization of racism and xenophobia through their political and electoral exploitation, which is reflected in the pervasiveness of racist and xenophobic platforms in the programmes of democratic parties and the governmental alliances that enable their extreme right