A/RES/73/176
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
14 January 2019
Seventy-third session
Agenda item 74 (b)
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
on 17 December 2018
[on the report of the Third Committee (A/73/589/Add.2)]
73/176.
Freedom of religion or belief
The General Assembly,
Recalling 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,
Recalling also 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 further its previous resolutions on freedom of religion or belief and
on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion
or belief, including its resolution 72/177 of 19 December 2017 and Human Rights
Council resolution 37/9 of 22 March 2018, 3
Recognizing the important work carried out by the Human Rights Committee in
providing guidance with respect to the scope of freedom of religion or belief,
Noting 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 or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or
violence, adopted in Rabat on 5 October 2012, 4
Considering that religion or belief, for those who profess either, is one of the
fundamental elements in their conception of life and that freedom of religion or belief,
as a universal human right, should be fully respected and guaranteed,
__________________
1
2
3
4
18-22272 (E)
See resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
Resolution 217 A (III).
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-third Session, Supplement No. 53
(A/73/53), chap. IV, sect. A.
A/HRC/22/17/Add.4, appendix.
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*1822272*