A/HRC/4/50 page 2 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Human Rights Council, by its decision 2/102, requested the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “continue with the fulfilment of her activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and to update the relevant reports and studies”. A comprehensive annual report (E/CN.4/2006/12) on the issue of defamation of religions was submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its sixty-second session pursuant to resolution 2005/3. The information in the report remains relevant, and is complemented by the report submitted more recently to the General Assembly (A/61/325) pursuant to Assembly resolution 60/150. Another report of the High Commissioner on incitement to racial and religious hatred and the promotion of tolerance was submitted to the Human Rights Council at its second session (A/HRC/2/6) pursuant to its decision 1/107. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) understands decision 2/102 to preserve the previous annual reporting cycle in respect of this issue until otherwise decided by the Council. The current report to the Human Rights Council accordingly addresses developments in respect of defamation of religions over the last year. II. REPLIES RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES 2. On 10 July 2006, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a note verbale to Member States inviting them to forward their contributions, in accordance with Human Rights Council decision 1/107 and in particular on the following issues: (a) actions undertaken by the State to prohibit the dissemination through political institutions and organizations of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion, that constitute incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence; (b) legal and constitutional guarantees aimed at protecting against acts of hatred, discrimination and coercion resulting from defamation of religions; (c) measures undertaken to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and their value systems; (d) education and training programmes or modules aimed at ensuring that all public officials, in the course of their official duties, respect different religions and beliefs and do not discriminate on the grounds of religion and belief; (e) measures adopted to ensure equal access to education for all, in law and practice, including access to free primary education for all children and access for adults to lifelong learning and education based on respect for human rights, diversity and tolerance without discrimination on any ground; (f) actions aimed at supporting and promoting a global dialogue for a culture of peace and tolerance based on respect for human rights and religious diversity. The information submitted by the Member States has been used in the preparation of the present report. 3. OHCHR received replies from seven Member States, namely Croatia, Cuba, Finland, France, Slovenia, the Syrian Arab Republic1 and Tunisia. The present report also includes information from Mauritius in response to the note verbale sent on 9 May 2005 following the adoption of Commission resolution 2005/3, which arrived too late for inclusion in document E/CN.4/2006/12. 1 At the time of the preparation of this report, the translation of the reply from the Syrian Arab Republic was not available.