A/HRC/15/53 80. In the Special Rapporteur’s view, negative stereotyping of religions, their followers and sacred persons may have adverse consequences on the enjoyment of human rights by religious followers. Indeed, there may be some cases where stereotyping of religions, their followers and sacred persons may lead to actual cases of advocacy of religious hatred, such as prohibited in article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Special Rapporteur notes that determining which acts might trigger article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights remains problematic, including where to draw the line between criticism — even if deemed offensive — and advocacy of racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. However, the Special Rapporteur takes the view that the threshold must be very high. He also would like to emphasize that each set of facts is particular and can only be assessed and adjudicated by an independent and impartial judiciary, according to its own circumstances and taking into account the specific context. 81. Negative stereotyping of religions, their followers and sacred persons may in some instances be symptomatic of intolerant mentalities within a given society. Since they relate to the state of mind or “forum internum” of an individual, the Special Rapporteur takes the view that intolerance mentalities by themselves do not constitute human rights violations. Yet, he acknowledges that they may eventually lead to such violations if not monitored closely and if they remain unaddressed. Indeed, intolerant mentalities become a human rights issue once they are publicly expressed through advocacy of racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. The Special Rapporteur therefore believes that early warning signs (such as racial and religious intolerance towards specific ethnic or religious groups) should be addressed by Governments through a wide range of measures aimed at finding ways to create a peaceful society. In this regard, prevention is key to creating an atmosphere of religious tolerance and to prevent other manifestations of intolerance, in cases where they would already have been expressed. Prevention encompasses a wide range of activities in the fields of, inter alia, education, awareness-raising, interreligious and intercultural dialogue. The Special Rapporteur would like to stress the importance of education which should aim to inculcate, from early childhood, a spirit of tolerance and respect for the spiritual values of others. He also would like to emphasize on the role of religious leaders. While the latter may be instrumental in allowing religious communities to live side-by-side peacefully, they may also foster religious intolerance within their respective communities. Therefore, the Special Rapporteur encourages States to interact with religious leaders when designing prevention measures aiming at curbing manifestations of intolerance. III. Conclusions and recommendations 82. The Special Rapporteur expresses his concerns vis-à-vis reports received on worldwide incidents related to issues raised in Human Rights Council resolution 13/16. Such reports appear to fall under five broad and non-exhaustive categories warranting different approaches under international human rights law, which provides sufficient tools to respond to all of them. These categories include acts of violence or discrimination, or incitement thereto, against individuals on the basis of their religion or belief; attacks on religious sites; religious and ethnic profiling; religious symbols; and negative stereotyping of religions, their followers and sacred persons. 83. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 13/16 which requested that particular attention be given to the phenomenon of Islamophobia, the Special Rapporteur would like to highlight that he unfortunately continues to receive worrying reports of incidents negatively affecting the human rights of Muslim GE.10-14999 17