A/HRC/RES/37/9
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
9 April 2018
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Thirty-seventh session
26 February–23 March 2018
Agenda item 3
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 22 March 2018
37/9.
Freedom of religion or belief
The Human Rights Council,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 36/55 of 25 November l981, in which the
Assembly 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,
article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant human rights
provisions,
Recalling further Human Rights Council resolution 34/10 of 23 March 2017, and
other resolutions adopted by the Council, the General Assembly and the Commission on
Human Rights on the freedom of religion or belief or the elimination of all forms of
intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief,
Recalling Human Rights Council resolutions 5/1 and 5/2 of 18 June 2007,
Noting with appreciation the conclusions and recommendations of the expert
workshops organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights and contained in the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of
national, racial and religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or
violence, adopted in Rabat, Morocco on 5 October 2012,
Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and
interrelated,
Recalling that States have the primary responsibility to promote and protect human
rights, including the human rights of persons belonging to religious minorities, including
their right to exercise their religion or belief freely,
Deeply concerned at continuing acts of intolerance and violence based on religion or
belief against individuals, including persons belonging to religious communities and
religious minorities around the world,
Underlining the importance of education in the promotion of tolerance, which
involves the acceptance by the public of and its respect for diversity, including with regard
to religious expression, and underlining also the fact that education, in particular at school,
should contribute in a meaningful way to promoting tolerance and the elimination of
discrimination based on religion or belief,
GE.18-05518(E)