A/HRC/12/38 page 4 Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 10/22 of 26 March 2009 entitled “Combating defamation of religions”, in which the Council requested 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 by their followers, to the Council at its twelfth session”. 2. The Special Rapporteur would like to highlight that this is the first report he submits to the Human Rights Council on this topic. In this regard, the focus of the report is on the legal and conceptual questions related to the ongoing debate on “defamation of religions” and incitement to racial or religious hatred. The Special Rapporteur believes that these questions should be tackled initially in order to address concrete manifestations and cases brought to his attention. 3. In view of the important developments that have taken place during the reporting period, culminating with the agreement reached in the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference, the present report takes stock of ongoing conceptual debates regarding the interpretation of relevant international legal standards (chapter I). The Special Rapporteur also provides an overview of the information received since taking up his mandate on serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all human rights by their followers (chapter II). Lastly, he presents a number of conclusions and recommendations, proposing a way forward in the efforts to combat incitement to racial or religious hatred (chapter III). I. CONCEPTUAL DEBATE ON THE ISSUE OF “DEFAMATION OF RELIGIONS” AND INCITEMENT TO RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS HATRED A. Report of the former Special Rapporteur to the ninth session of the Human Rights Council 4. In his last report to the Human Rights Council on “the manifestations of defamation of religions and in particular on the serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all rights” (A/HRC/9/12), the former mandate holder, Doudou Diène, explained that, in order to address the question of defamation of religions from a universal standpoint, it was essential to relate the discussion to international human rights instruments. More specifically, the former Special Rapporteur noted that provisions relating to incitement to national, racial or religious hatred already form part of the main international instruments to which a large majority of countries are signatory. In addition, he stressed that linking the political discussion on the treatment of religious discrimination to specific legal provisions would show that combating incitement to hatred was not a North-South ideological question but a reality present in a large majority of national legislations in all regions. 5. In this regard, the former Special Rapporteur advocated for a “change of paradigm”, shifting the debate from the sociological notion of the defamation of religions to the human rights concept of incitement to racial and religious hatred, the latter being grounded in relevant international, regional and national instruments. Particular reference was made to article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirms that “All are entitled to equal protection