A/HRC/49/44 27. Armed actors regularly inflict sexual and gender-based violence ("SGBV") as a devastating tool to destroy the fabric of minority communities. 59 Experiences of Yazidi women in Iraq, sexually assaulted and enslaved at the hands of ISIL fighters, Rohingya Muslim women in Myanmar, and Christian women in Northern Nigeria provide three such harrowing examples. The Special Rapporteur also recalls reports that authorities have raped, sexually abused and sterilized Uighur women in "re-education" camps in China. 60 While women are often disproportionately targeted with gender-based violence, such assaults are not limited to them. For instance, amongst the Rohingya Muslim population, the military also targeted male heads of the household and Imams with torture and sexual violence.61 28. Deliberately making the situation for faith minorities more precarious during crises, some authorities introduced restrictive measures on their manifestation of religion or belief, including by restricting religious rites and access to places of worship.62 Amid increasing hostilities, Sri Lanka's Eastern Heritage Task Force reportedly designated minority archaeological and holy sites as "Buddhist sites" to limit minority access to religious sites.63 29. Indian authorities have closed mosques across Kashmir (ostensibly viewing them as a focal point for unrest) and imposed restrictions that frustrate the celebration of Islamic holidays, such as barring public processions during Muharram and Eid.64 In Jerusalem, Israeli authorities reportedly restricted Christians and Muslims from accessing certain places of worship, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Al Aqsa mosque during religious rites, often using its rigorous system of permits and checkpoints. 65 States also reportedly (i) impose rigid and mandatory registration requirements;66 (ii) compel practices that contravene minorities’ beliefs;67 or (iii) criminalize religious conduct, such as preaching or conversion. 30. Armed actors have targeted religious or belief minorities with seizure of property and land grabs, severing access to resources, and often compounding their economic disenfranchisement.68 For instance, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, armed separatist groups have allegedly seized property belonging to Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses.69 In September 2021, the Taliban reportedly took the homes, livestock, and crops of approximately 700 Shi'a Hazara families. 70 To promote an ethnically unitary and religiously non-pluralistic state, the Taliban has allegedly sought to force the ethno-religious non-Pashtun minorities to leave. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Supreme Court found that most blasphemy cases are "based on false accusations stemming from property issues or other personal vendettas [...], and they inevitably lead to mob violence against the entire community."71 31. Conscientious objectors from religious or belief minorities, frequently those with pacifist tenets, have faced compulsory conscription, at times violating their right to conscientious objection to military service.72 Rights monitors report cases of prosecutions and arbitrary detentions of Druze by Israeli authorities73 and Jehovah's Witnesses, including 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 8 Consultation-Myanmar. A/HRC/46/30, para.45. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/09/04/Rohingya-men-raped-MyanmarBangladesh-refugee-camps-GBV Myanmar; Sri Lanka; Nigeria; OPT; India (Jammu and Kashmir). Consultation-Sri Lanka. See also A/HRC/43/48/Add.2, para.39. Consultation-India (Jammu and Kashmir). https://www.alhaq.org/publications/15212.html, pp.8-9, 31-34; https://www.ochaopt.org/content/longstanding-access-restrictions-continue-undermine-livingconditions-west-bank--palestinians https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/UkraineCivicSpace2021-EN.pdf, para.56 e.g. Consultation-Afghanistan. e.g. Central African Republic; West Papua; Yemen; Sri Lanka. Consultation-Ukraine. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/10/22/afghanistan-taliban-forcibly-evict-minority-shia; ConsultationAfghanistan. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/5136/2016/en/. e.g. CCPR/C/112/D/2179/2012. https://www.amnesty.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/mde150082014en.pdf; https://wriirg.org/en/node/15237.