A/HRC/22/51 in practice they are still exposed to religious instruction that may go against their convictions.24 (f) Publicly stoked prejudices 47. Rather than combating existing prejudices against religious minorities, Governments and public officials at times even stoke and exploit prejudices for political purposes, such as fostering national homogeneity or blaming political failures on scapegoats. In this context, minorities have been negatively portrayed as undermining the moral fabric of society. For instance, minorities who tend to refuse military service on conscientious grounds have been held responsible for military defeats and other national traumas. Surprisingly often, stoked political paranoia targets small groups of people who are demonized as wielding some mysteriously “infectious” power by which they allegedly pose a fatal threat to societal cohesion.25 There are also examples of religious minorities being stigmatized by politicians or radio hosts as “a fifth column” 26 who supposedly act in the interest of hostile foreign powers, thus violating the interest of the nation. The spread of negative stereotypes and prejudices obviously poisons the relationship between different communities and puts people belonging to religious minorities in a vulnerable situation. Unfortunately, stigmatizing prejudices also continue to exist in schoolbooks and teaching material for children who, given their tender age, can easily be impressed by anti-minority propaganda. (g) Acts of vandalism and desecration 48. There are many incidents of vandalism directed against symbols, sites or institutions of religious minorities, including the demolition of places of worship 27 and the desecration of cemeteries28 or tombs of historical and cultural heritage value. 29 Such attacks often constitute symbolic violence by which the perpetrators aim to send a message to members of religious minorities that they are not welcome in the community or country.30 This can become a trigger for physical violence, 31 including expulsions and other extreme manifestations of hostility. There are also numerous incidents where development or 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 14 See country visit report on Cyprus (A/HRC/22/51/Add.1, para. 62). In Saudi Arabia, the Imam of Riyadh mosque allegedly called Shi’as “traitors” and called for the elimination of all Shi’a believers in the world, including those residing in Saudi Arabia (A/HRC/16/53/Add.1, paras. 362-366). In the United States of America, a radio host reportedly said during his talk show “that Muslims in this country are a fifth column. […] The reason they are here is to take over our culture and eventually take over our country” (E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1, para. 298). In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the Tiferet Israel Synagogue in Caracas was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti twice in January 2009 (A/HRC/13/40/Add.1, paras. 248-258). Israeli State authorities allowed the construction of a museum on a portion of the Ma’man Allah cemetery in Jerusalem that reportedly involved the excavation or exposure of hundreds of graves where there has been a Muslim burial ground for more than 1,000 years (A/HRC/16/53/Add.1, paras. 206-215). In press statements issued in 2012, the Special Rapporteur referred to the destruction and desecration of religious sites and cemeteries in Cyprus (www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12042&LangID=E), Mali (www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12337&LangID=E) and Libya (www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12485&LangID=E). In Greece, unknown persons reportedly nailed a pig’s head to the entrance door of a mosque in Western Thrace (A/HRC/18/51, p. 85). In Egypt, a bomb attack targeted Coptic Christian worshippers who had emerged from a New Year’s mass in the Al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria, killing 23 Coptic Christians and injuring at least 97 others (A/HRC/18/51, p. 29).