A/HRC/40/58 D. Anti-conversion or proselytizing laws The Special Rapporteur issued a follow-up communication in September 2017 pursuant to the adoption of an amendment to the penal code of Nepal which criminalized religious conversion and the “hurting of religious sentiment” (sect. 9, clause 158, of the Criminal Code). As earlier correspondence had done, the communication raised concern that the new provisions could be invoked against legitimate manifestations of religion or belief, including the charitable activities of religious groups or teaching others about one’s faith, and that this law could be used to target religious minorities for sharing their beliefs with others. The mandate holder raised a similar concern in a communication of 19 June 2014 regarding the passage of legislation in Myanmar which established a State-regulated process for changing one’s religion, including the need to submit an application (sects. 2 (c) and 5) justifying one’s decision to convert (sect. 5 (c) (xi)), the need to register for religious conversion (sect. 6), and set out processes for an interview (sects. 6 (d) and 7 (a)–(c)), study (sect. 7 (d)–(f)) and approval (sects. 8 and 10). 46. Furthermore, 74 per cent of countries in the Americas experienced increases in government restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in 2016. 23 Such increases were largely linked to the harassment of religious groups (including minority or non-approved religious groups) and the failure to protect some religious groups from discrimination or abuse. For example, in Ecuador, Honduras and Mexico, Jehovah’s Witnesses were reportedly hindered at times from proselytizing and distributing religious material. 24 47. E. Religious hatred and extremism Bishop Jovan (Zoran Vraniskovski) In 2004, a former bishop of the Macedonian Orthodox Church was sentenced by national courts to imprisonment for having instigated violence against himself and his followers because he had left the predominant Church and created a schism. An opinion by the Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion and Belief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights expressed concerns about the judgment’s approach, which seemed to suggest that any form of religious activity that effectively challenged the legitimacy and supremacy of the Macedonian Orthodox Church as the dominant religion should be considered an action that promotes religious hatred. Since Bishop Jovan had been the target of a hostile response from opposing believers, it is astonishing that he was found by the first instance court to have instigated religious hatred “towards himself and his followers”. 25 Subsequently, the Supreme Court partially accepted his appeal with regard to the freedom to perform religious rites and reduced his prison sentence to eight months. 48. Müslüm Gündüz On 12 June 1995, Müslüm Gündüz, a retired labourer, in his capacity as the leader of Aczmendi, an Islamic sect (tariqat), was invited to appear in a late evening television programme, which was broadcast live on an independent channel. The presenter announced that various characteristics of the group would be discussed with Gündüz and several other panellists, including aspects related to their beliefs and their manifestation, such as their distinctive clothing, chanting and worldview. In the live discussion, Gündüz made a number of statements expressing profound dissatisfaction with Turkey’s democratic and secular 49. 23 24 25 Pew Research Center, “Americas the only region with a rise in both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion in 2016” in Global Uptick in Government Restrictions on Religion in 2016 (2018). Ibid. A/HRC/13/40/Add.2, para. 47; Heiner Bielefeldt, Nazila Ghanea and Michael Wiener, Freedom of Religion or Belief: An International Law Commentary (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 497. 13