Tolerance & Non-discrimination Responding to Intolerance against Muslims Raising Awareness about Intolerance against Christians In order to promote the use of Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims, published in collaboration with UNESCO and the Council of Europe, ODIHR organized two roundtables — in Vienna on 6 September and Paris on 5 November. Seventy-nine representatives from educational institutions and NGOs prepared recommendations on how the Guidelines could be used in schools to fight intolerance and discrimination. ODIHR convened two training seminars for NGOs on preventing and responding to hate crimes against Muslims — in Sofia on 12 September and Berlin on 24 and 25 November. During the events, civil society representatives dealing with intolerance against Muslims and members of Muslim communities from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Switzerland learned about monitoring of hate crimes. Intolerance against Christians, including violence, and its relationship with the freedom of religion or belief, was the topic of a workshop organized in Rome on 26 and 27 June. The workshop gathered more than 30 civil society representatives from the OSCE region. Participants discussed the impact of hate crime and how NGOs can improve collection of information about hate crimes against Christians. A special emphasis was placed on attacks on places of worship, as this form of hate crime is commonly experienced by Christian communities. Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief In 2012, ODIHR initiated the development of guidelines on the recognition of religious or belief communities. The document will serve as an update to the 2004 Guidelines for Review of Legislation Pertaining to Religion or Belief and will include both international standards and good practices. The draft document is being developed in co-operation with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. On 2 October, ODIHR convened a consultation meeting with 23 experts from the OSCE region on the draft document. In 2013, ODIHR plans to organize several public consultation events on this document. On 12 October, ODIHR, in conjunction with the OSCE Centre in Astana, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the State Agency for Religious Affairs of Kazakhstan, organized a “Roundtable on the Implementation of the Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations” in Almaty. The event brought together 95 participants from the Government, civil society, religious and belief communities to discuss the implementation of the law. Participants at the Summer Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), listen to a presentation of the “Guidelines for Educators on Countering Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims”, produced by ODIHR in co-operation with the Council of Europe and UNESCO, Strasbourg, 26 June 2012. (Council of Europe) ODIHR Annual Report 2012 61