A/75/385 charges.31 As the Special Rapporteur has previously explored, such restrictions of freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief, and their analogous punishments, are invariably targeted at distinct minorities, reflecting not only the imposition of a hierarchy of beliefs but also systematic repression of minority communities.32 16. Relatedly, as many as 21 countries criminalize apostasy, including 12 countries — Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, UAE, Yemen — in which apostasy is in principle punishable by death.33 17. A concerning number of mandate communications highlight the use of inchoate terrorist offenses that are disproportionately applied to religious or belief minorities. Harassment measures broadly linked to countering terrorism and protecting national security34 illustrate that in almost every region of the world religious minorities appear to be at particular risk of being designated “terrorist groups” and of having members arrested under “extremism” or “illegal activity” charges. A number of communications addressed the use of national security imperatives as the stated objective by some governments in criminalizing membership in and/or activities35 of certain religious or belief groups.36 Such an approach amounts to targeting, and ultimately criminalizing, the peaceful expression of a person’s identity. 18. In Tajikistan, peaceful religious actors, mostly Muslims, have been detained under “the Fight Against Extremism” law for engaging in activities such as promoting religious education or distributing religious literature.37 In the Republic of Moldova, the emblems of the Falun Gong are summarily included on the State’s Registry of “Extremist Materials.” 38 A Nigerian court ruled in, 2019 that activities of the Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) amounted to “acts of terrorism and illegality” and ordered the government to ban the religious association.39 19. Numerous State authorities have arrested, detained (sometimes incommunicado) and sentenced members of religious and belief minorities for undefined charges such as intent to ‘disturb political, economic or social structures’40, to ‘disrupt state sovereignty’ 41 or to ‘overthrow the Government’.42 Such vague provisions fail to fulfil the principle of legality as enshrined in article 15 of ICCPR and give worrying leeway to States to arbitrarily limit the exercise of freedom of religion or belief of certain groups. 20. China has sought to justify its coercive detention of over a million Muslim Uighurs, Kazakhs and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in state run ‘re-education’ camps as part of ‘de-extremism regulations.’43 “Behavioural indicators of religious extremism” that warrant detention by State authorities include public displays of Islam and Uighur culture such as young men wearing beards, women wearing face veils and persons owning goods with a star and crescent.44 Reportedly, Chinese authorities force Muslims to learn Mandarin Chinese, sing praises of the Chinese Communist Party and renounce their religion in the internment camps, where failure to “learn” is punished with violence at the hands of state actors.45 Authorities, reportedly, send thousands of victims to work for little or no pay in 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 6 AL MDV 1/2019. A/HRC/40/58. https://fot.humanists.international/download-the-report/ at p 18. See also A/73/362, A/71/269 para. 45. UA SAU 16/2019; AL MDV 1/2019. UA DZA 3/2017. Submission from Equal Rights Trust. UA MDA 1/2015. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/30/nigeria-court-bans-shia-group. OL PHL 4/2020. OL IND 7/2020. AL VNM 6/2017. CAT/C/CHN/CO/5, para. 36. CERD/C/CHN/CO/14-17, para. 40. OL CHN 18/2019; OL CHN 21/2018; A/HRC/39/46, para. 88. See, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html; https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/09/09/eradicating-ideological-viruses/chinas-campaign-repressionagainst-xinjiangs; https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2020/02/china-uyghurs-abroad-livingin-fear/.