United Nations
General Assembly
A/RES/61/161
Distr.: General
21 February 2007
Sixty-first session
Agenda item 67 (b)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2006
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/61/443/Add.2 and Corr.1)]
61/161. Elimination of all forms of intolerance and of
discrimination based on religion or belief
The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981, by which it proclaimed
the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of
Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief,
Recalling also article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, 1 article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 2 and other relevant
human rights provisions,
Reaffirming the call of the World Conference on Human Rights upon all
Governments to take all appropriate measures in compliance with their international
obligations and with due regard to their respective legal systems to counter
intolerance and related violence based on religion or belief, including practices of
discrimination against women and the desecration of religious sites, recognizing that
every individual has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, expression and
religion, 3
Reaffirming also the recognition by the World Conference on Human Rights
that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 56/6 of 9 November 2001 on the
Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilizations, in which the Assembly
recognized the valuable contribution that dialogue among civilizations could make
to an improved awareness and understanding of the common values shared by all
humankind,
Acknowledging that in order to be effective, such a dialogue should be based
on respect for the dignity of adherents of religions and beliefs, as well as respect for
diversity and the universal promotion and protection of human rights,
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1
See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
Resolution 217 A (III).
3
See A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III, sect. II, para. 22.
2
06-50409