-3- CONVINCED that the principles of equality and nondiscrimination among human persons are dynamic democratic concepts that foster the promotion of effective legal equality and presuppose an obligation on the State’s part to adopt special measures to protect the rights of individuals or groups that are victims of discrimination and intolerance, in any area of human endeavor, whether public or private, with a view to cultivating equitable conditions for equal opportunity and to combating discrimination and intolerance in all their individual, structural, and institutional manifestations; TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the victims of discrimination and intolerance in the Americas are, inter alia, migrants, refugees, and displaced persons and their families, as well as other sexual, cultural, religious and linguistic groups or minorities that are affected by such manifestations; CONVINCED that certain persons and groups experience multiple or extreme forms of discrimination and intolerance, driven by a combination of factors such as gender; age; sexual orientation; language; religion; political or other opinion; social origin; economic status; migrant, refugee or displaced status; birth, stigmatized infectious-contagious condition; genetic trait; disability; debilitating psychological distress; or other social condition; as well as others recognized in international instruments; DISTURBED by the fact that various parts of the world have seen a general increase in cases of intolerance and violence motivated by anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, or Islamophobia, and that directed against members of other religious communities, including those with African roots; RECOGNIZING that peaceful coexistence among religions in pluralistic societies and democratic states is based on respect for equality and nondiscrimination among religions and on a clear separation between the laws of the state and religious tenets; TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that a pluralistic and democratic society must respect the cultural, linguistic, religious, gender and sexual identity of every person, whether belonging to a minority or not, and create the conditions that will enable that person to express, preserve, and develop his or her identity; CONSIDERING that the individual and collective experience of discrimination and intolerance must be taken into account to combat segregation and marginalization based on gender; age; sexual orientation; language; religion; political or other opinion; social origin; economic status; migrant, refugee or dislocated status; birth, stigmatized infectious-contagious condition’, genetic trait; disability; debilitating psychological distress; or other social condition; as well as others recognized in international instruments; and to protect the life plan of individuals and communities at risk of such segregation and marginalization; ALARMED by the surge in hate crimes motivated by gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and other social conditions; and EMPHASIZING the basic role that education plays in promoting respect for human rights, equality, nondiscrimination, and tolerance, AGREE upon the following: