150. Welcomes the fact that freedom of religion or belief is included as a subject matter in the training provided to the EU staff; strongly reiterates its call for an ambitious toolkit to advance the right to freedom of religion or belief as part of EU external policy; welcomes, in this context, the EU’s commitment to develop guidelines on freedom of religion or belief in accordance with section 23 of the EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy; notes that these guidelines should be in line with EU Human Rights country strategies and include a checklist on the necessary freedoms pertaining to the right of freedom of religion or belief, in order to assess the situation in a given country, as well as a methodology to help identify infringements of freedom of religion or belief; stresses the need for Parliament and civil society organisations to be involved in the preparation of these guidelines; encourages the EU to ensure coherence between the new guidelines and the priorities listed in EU human rights country strategies; stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in the EU’s development and other external policies; 151. Urges the EU to respond proactively to the increased use of apostasy, blasphemy and anticonversion laws and to the role they play in increasing religious intolerance and discrimination; emphasises that international law includes the right to have, adopt and change a religion or belief; invites the VP/HR and the EU institutions to take action against unacceptable practices by applying pressure on those third countries, with a particular focus on those EU partners that still carry out such practices, to ensure that they are eliminated; encourages the EU to speak out against the use by governments of such laws and to support the right of individuals to change religion, in particular in those countries where apostasy is punishable by death; 152. Stresses the importance of the protection of freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, including atheism and other forms of non-belief, under international human rights conventions, and insists that such freedom should not be undermined by the application of blasphemy laws used to oppress and persecute those of a differing religion or belief; underlines that while blasphemy laws are often promoted with the pretext of reducing social tensions, in reality they only contribute to an increase in such tensions and to the rise of intolerance, in particular towards religious minorities; recalls, in this regard, that in a number of countries the prohibition, confiscation and destruction of both places of worship and religious publications, and prohibition of the training of clergy, are still common practice; urges the EU institutions, in their contacts with the relevant governments, to counter such violations; calls for a firm stance against the instrumentalisation of blasphemy laws for the purpose of persecuting members of religious minorities; 153. Stresses the importance of mainstreaming freedom of religion or belief in EU development, conflict prevention, and counterterrorism policies; welcomes inclusive efforts of intercultural and interfaith dialogue and cooperation at various levels, involving community leaders, women, youth and ethnic minority representatives, in fostering societal cohesion and peaceful societies; welcomes the EU’s commitment to presenting and promoting the right to freedom of religion or belief within international and regional fora including the UN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and other regional mechanisms, and calls for a constructive dialogue with the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) on moving away from terminology related to combating defamation of religions; encourages the EU to continue tabling its yearly resolution on freedom of religion or belief at the UN General Assembly;