A/HRC/49/44 systemic discrimination in accessing employment opportunities. The Special Rapporteur received reports that authorities in Nigeria's northern states restrict employment access of Christians –– a situation that the U.N. Human Rights Committee considered in 2019 –– 102 and that some private sector employers use quotas to limit employment access for Christians. 103 Meanwhile, the Houthis have reportedly discriminated against Baha'i communities in Yemen in seeking financial wellbeing. Authorities allegedly have not only banned banking institutions from making loans to Baha'is and arbitrarily seized their businesses and properties, but also used intimidation to discourage employers from hiring Baha'i individuals.104 44. Women from religious or belief minority communities often face additional gendered socio-economic barriers in seeking means of subsistence in times of conflict and insecurity,105 including discrimination in accessing employment based on their gender and faith where actors may invoke religious precepts to justify such treatment.106 The Special Rapporteur and other U.N. experts have raised concern at the de facto authority's campaign to "erase women" from Afghanistan's social, economic, and political spheres. While women's workforce participation in Afghanistan was already meagre by global standards, the International Labour Organization estimates that this rate has decreased 16% following the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021 and could decrease by 28% in mid-2022. 107 The U.N. experts' concerns are "exacerbated in the cases of women from ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities” including Hazara, Tajik and Hindu communities.108 Interlocutors also allege that Shi’a Hazara women are facing increased challenges to secure sufficient resources to survive the current humanitarian crisis. 45. Where religious or belief minorities already experience poor access to housing, education, and healthcare, these communities are likely to be more vulnerable to the disruption or interruption of these essential services during conflict and insecurity. Rights monitors report that Arab religious minorities living in Israel and Palestinians in the OPT face longstanding and systemic socio-economic discrimination in accessing those services, in addition to securing property and land rights. The Special Rapporteur has also received reports that Pakistani Ahmadi Muslims may need a non-Ahmadi ally to act on their behalf to secure rental housing because of prevailing discrimination.109 (iii) Humanitarian contexts 46. In 2022, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs asserted that 274 million people globally need humanitarian assistance and protection to meet their survival needs, increasing from 235 million a year ago.110 Since 2021, humanitarian actors reportedly face “very high constraints” in accessing the Central African Republic and Iraq and “extreme constraints” in Afghanistan, Nigeria, the OPT, Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen.111 In these regions and beyond, hostilities, sanctions, counterterrorism measures, and administrative impediments are among many obstacles facing humanitarian operations, further exacerbated by COVID-19 related restrictions.112 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 12 CCPR/C/NGA/CO/2, para.44. Bilateral-Nigerian Christian representative. Consultation-Yemen. See also A/HRC/42/CRP .1, paras.816-822, A/HRC/45/CRP.7, paras.307-309; https://sanaacenter.org/publications/main-publications/14462. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/15614/CREID_Workin g_Paper_2_Invisible_Targets_of_Hate.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. A/HRC/43/48, para.72. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---robangkok/documents/briefingnote/wcms_834525.pdf. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=28029&LangID=E. Bilateral-Pakistani Ahmadi representative. https://hum-insight.info. https://gho.unocha.org/trends/conflict-remains-major-driver-humanitarian-need#footnote-paragraph16-2; https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/20210719_acaps_humanitarian_access_overvie w_july_2021_0.pdf. S/2021/423, paras.39-40.