A/HRC/2/6 page 9 2. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 26. The issue of incitement to racial and religions hatred has also been addressed by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Although incitement to religious hatred may prima facie appear to fall outside the mandate of the Committee, CERD has affirmed that cases of “intersectoriality of ethnic and religious discrimination” are of relevance to it.16 The following examples illustrate how the Committee has addressed the issue of incitement to racial and religions hatred. (a) Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran,17 CERD expressed concern over the uncertainty of actual enforcement of domestic law criminalizing incitement to racial discrimination. As a result, the Committee has expressed its wish to receive “information on the effective implementation of legislation concerning the eradication of all incitement to, or acts of, racial discrimination”; (b) With respect to Nigeria,18 CERD noted with concern that feelings of hostility amongst and between some ethnic and religious groups are prevalent in the country. It expressed further concern about “the absence of an explicit penal provision in the State party’s legislation prohibiting organizations and propaganda activities that advocate racial hatred”.19 The Committee recommended that the State party “endeavour, by encouraging genuine dialogue, to improve relations between different ethnic and religious communities with the view to promoting tolerance and overcoming prejudices and negative stereotypes”; (c) In relation to Guatemala,20 CERD deplored the lack of domestic legislation on racial discrimination and incitement to such acts and called upon the State Party to “adopt specific legislation classifying as a punishable act any dissemination of ideas based on notions of superiority or racial hatred, incitement to racial discrimination, and violent acts directed against indigenous peoples and persons of African descent”; (d) In relation to Sweden,21 CERD welcomed amendments to Fundamental Law of Freedom of Expression, which aim at facilitating “the bringing of legal action in cases of racial agitation”; (e) CERD also noted with satisfaction that “serious acts of racial hatred or incitement to racial hatred are criminal offences in most of Australian States and Territories”,22 and that Slovakia had adopted an “Action Plan for the Prevention of All Forms of Discrimination, Racism, Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and Other Expressions of Intolerance for the Periods 20022003 and 2004-2005”.23 27. International tribunals, including the 1946 Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the International Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda have also passed judgment on key aspects relating to the issue. C. Regional jurisprudence 28. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),24 the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR)25 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)26 have all been interpreted to permit State action to prohibit hate speech and the advocacy of hatred on the basis of religion and race. All three include provisions relating to equality and non-