A/HRC/25/64 tackle incitement to violence based on national, racial or religious hatred. Communitybased, political and religious groups have been conducting, with impunity, well-organized and coordinated campaigns of incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence against Rohingya and other Muslim minorities. The Government has a duty, under international human rights law, to investigate the nature and extent of the harm caused to persons and groups as a result of hostility and violence incited on the basis of racial or religious hatred, and to hold the perpetrators to account with proportionate punishments. For further guidance on tackling hate speech in accordance with international human rights standards, the Special Rapporteur highlights general recommendation No. 35 (2013) of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. D. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association 22. On 30 November 2013, President Thein Sein spoke of the need to restore the “longweakened trust” between the Government and the people and of the Government’s intention to intensify its cooperation with civil society organizations. While acknowledging the important progress Myanmar has made since 2011 in upholding the rights of people to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the Special Rapporteur remains concerned that important legislative changes have not yet taken place to allow the President’s vision of further progress to be realized. 23. The presidential pardon of 30 December resulted in the pardoning of hundreds of people prosecuted for participating in peaceful assemblies. However, the problematic laws remain on the books and continue to be used; in January 2014, 10 people were charged under article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act. People involved in protests concerning business and development projects, including land confiscation, remain particularly vulnerable to arrest. In Kachin State, the Special Rapporteur met with Bauk Ja, who had recently been released from detention following spurious charges the Special Rapporteur believes stem from her outspoken campaign against land confiscations in Hukaung Valley, Kachin State. Furthermore, the law is being applied in an arbitrary way, with other demonstrations that appear to align with Government interests being allowed to take place. 24. In February, the Chair of the Bill Committee of the upper house informed the Special Rapporteur that an amendment of article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act was currently being discussed in the lower house and would later go to the upper house for consideration. The Special Rapporteur urges the parliament to ensure the amendment of article 18, including through the replacement of the permit system and criminal sanctions with a voluntary notification procedure (see A/68/397, para. 23). 25. The Attorney General informed the Special Rapporteur that discussions on repealing the Unlawful Associations Act and amending articles 143, 145, 152 and 505 of the Penal Code were ongoing in the parliament. The Special Rapporteur has been advocating for the amendment of those laws since the beginning of his mandate in 2008 and calls on the parliament to expedite their amendment. 26. The Special Rapporteur notes that a new associations law, to replace the 1988 Act relating to the Formation of Organizations, is still before the parliament. He welcomes the process of consultation with civil society and international organizations by the lower house’s Public Affairs Management Committee and Bills Committee on the bill and is, moreover, encouraged that the consultation led to significant improvements in the draft law which addressed some of the concerns raised in his previous report (A/68/397, para. 25). Most notably, criminal penalties (imprisonment for up to six months) for joining an unregistered organization and the compulsory registration requirement were reportedly 7