Religious intolerance

101. Many factors of widely varying impact and far from easy to understand exert a negative influence, as we have seen, on education in relation to racial discrimination and religious intolerance. These factors include historical circumstances, the social and economic conditions of groups and minorities, their demographic distribution in the territory, their cultural impoverishment, the prejudices of dominant groups, the status of the majority and minority languages, the political will of the Government and of the groups themselves, the shortage of resources and the lack of intercultural dialogue. It would certainly not be realistic to expect that taking action on these factors could achieve the desired results immediately: some of them are not, in fact, specific to education and would require major efforts by the State and the international community, as well as considerable resources, which would not necessarily be forthcoming at short notice; other factors might not require substantial resources but would need  a long-term commitment as they involve issues that, by definition, evolve slowly and not always straightforwardly. We shall distinguish here between domestic and international measures. 

A. Domestic measures 
 1. Establishment of the educational system
 2. The content of education
 3. Improving the intercommunity environment of the educational system

 B. International measures 
 1. Standard-setting
 2. The role of the relevant international organizations
 3. Follow-up and monitoring of States’ obligations
 4. Information gathering
 5. The media and means of communication