A/HRC/22/51 Nevertheless, some States fail to facilitate appropriate legal status positions. For instance, certain States do not allow associations to pursue any religious or belief-related purposes, with the implication that religious groups per se cannot obtain any legal status under the law of association. Recognition procedures may also be lengthy and overly complicated, with the intentional or non-intentional effect of discouraging certain minorities from even applying.13 In some instances, religious organizations may be deprived of their status and de-registered, thus losing key rights and privileges afforded to registered religious organizations. (Re)-registration procedures may stipulate conditions such as a minimum number of followers or years of existence in a particular country that a priori exclude smaller or new groups.14 An administration may also arbitrarily use negative labels, such as “sect”15 or “cult”, to generally prevent certain groups from obtaining legal personality status. Non-recognized communities typically live in situations of increased legal insecurity and structural vulnerability. There are also examples of de facto authorities prohibiting and disrupting meetings of members of religious minorities on the mistaken assumption that such activities could not be undertaken by unregistered communities. 16 (c) Structural discrimination and exclusion 44. Persons belonging to religious minorities often suffer from systematic discrimination in various sectors of society, such as educational institutions, the labour market, the housing market or the health-care system. Scores of examples account for structural discrimination in those and other important societal areas. Minorities are frequently underrepresented in the public sectors as well, including in the police force, the military, public media and high-level posts in public universities. Members of certain groups, once identified as such, may not have access to higher education17 or certain public positions, or may be expelled from previously held positions. Moreover, many members of religious minorities experience multiple, intersectional and otherwise aggravated forms of discrimination, for instance a discriminatory link between scheduled caste status and affiliation to specific religions,18 or a combination of religion and ethnicity-based violence.19 Women or girls often have to cope with gender-based and religious 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 12 The law on Freedom of Conscience, on Religious Associations and Other Organizations in Tajikistan established burdensome registration procedures for religious organizations (A/HRC/7/10/Add.1, paras. 245-249). In Hungary, the Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities requires re-registration of most religious organizations to be backed with evidence of at least 20 years of operation and regulations on its structure and operation (A/HRC/19/44, p. 35). In France, the Protestant movement of the Plymouth Brethren faced restrictions after it was listed in the MIVILUDES (Inter-ministerial Mission to monitor and combat abuse by sects) report (A/HRC/4/21/Add.1, paras. 137-145). In 2010, religious meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses living in Nagorno-Karabakh were disrupted by local “police” and several Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested (A/HRC/16/53/Add.1, paras. 6-24); however, the Special Rapporteur was subsequently informed that upon appeal the de facto “courts” overturned the initial administrative convictions, relying on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Special Rapporteur’s observations that registration cannot be a precondition for holding peaceful religious meetings. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, members of the Bahá’í faith are being prevented from entering public and private universities and vocational training institutions (A/HRC/10/8/Add.1, paras. 91-92; A/HRC/19/44, p. 13). See country visit report on India (A/HRC/10/8/Add.3, paras. 27-28 and 71). See violence by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria (A/HRC/20/30, p. 67).