A/HRC/15/53 (b) Observations by the Special Rapporteur on religious symbols 58. In recent years, there have been numerous public debates around the issue of bans or restrictions on religious symbols, and in particular on minarets, the Islamic veil and the full head-to-toe niqab. The Special Rapporteur is aware that the question of religious symbols has engendered difficult and highly emotional debates within the concerned societies. He is well aware of the manifold arguments brought forward by all sides which support or contest such bans or restrictions. 59. The ban or restriction of the use or display of religious symbols relates to several human rights. In order to take a position on the legality of those bans and restrictions from a human rights perspective, the Special Rapporteur takes the view that it is necessary to assess if they run counter to, inter alia, the freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief, the freedom of expression and the principle of non-discrimination. For instance, it would be essential to assess whether the display, use or construction (in particular for minarets) of certain religious symbols is constitutive of one’s freedom to manifest one’s religion or belief. Such an assessment should be undertaken by an independent and impartial judiciary on a case-by-case basis, in order to take into account all specificities of a given case. However, with regard to the principle of discrimination, the Special Rapporteur takes the view that bans or restrictions concerning the construction of minarets, for instance, may be discriminatory, since they target a specific religion only. Likewise, legislative provisions that would specifically prohibit the wearing of the Islamic veil would also be discriminatory towards a specific group of the population, i.e., Muslim women. There may also be indirect discrimination even when legislative provisions prohibit the wearing of all religious symbols. Indeed, while these legislative provisions may appear non-discriminatory on the face of it, they might still target certain specific groups, such as Muslim women or Sikhs, in a disproportionate manner, since Muslim and Sikh religious symbols — such as the veil or the dastaar (turban) — are generally worn in a more visible manner than religious symbols of other religions are. More generally on this point, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to the report to the sixty-second session of the Commission on Human Rights by Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, in which she stated that “the fundamental objective should be to safeguard both the positive freedom of religion or belief as manifested in observance and practice by voluntarily wearing or displaying religious symbols, and also the negative freedom from being forced to wear or display religious symbols” (E/CN.4/2006/5, para. 60). 60. The Special Rapporteur acknowledges that the question of religious symbols is a delicate one and that security concerns and the fundamental rights and freedoms of others, in particular with regard to the wearing of the niqab, come into play when assessing the legality of those bans or restrictions. Likewise, women��s rights, and in particular the principle of equality between men and women and the individual’s freedom to wear or not to wear religious symbols, ought to be taken into account when debating the wearing of the niqab. Nonetheless, the Special Rapporteur would like to express his concerns with regard to the fact that the recent controversial debates around the construction of minarets and the wearing of religious symbols demonstrate the fears among the population towards a single religion. He deeply deplores the numerous political campaigns which have relied on those fears and which have actually fostered them for political gains. These political campaigns often reinforce negative stereotypes about certain groups of individuals and thereby promote intolerance and misunderstanding among the population. The Special Rapporteur therefore strongly encourages moderate voices from all sides to be more prominent and vocal, in order to counter these political campaigns with rational arguments, including those based on human rights, and for these debates to be more balanced. GE.10-14999 13