A/77/514 languages, culture, and spiritual practices under threat of punishment.46 In 2022, the US Government observed that this assimilative policy closely accompanied the intergenerational loss of indigenous spirituality.47 Canadian interlocutors highlight enduring trauma from this imposed rupture with loss of ancestral identity and spirituality.48 24. The loss of traditional language significantly affects indigenous spirituality, where oral expression is the "bedrock" of ceremony and transmitting knowledge. One interlocutor stated, "when you lose language, you lose everything." Yet many indigenous languages steadily disappear amidst inadequate State support and prohibitions, such as the Vietnamese Government allegedly intimidating and arresting Khmer Krom Buddhist monks seeking to teach and speak Khmer.49 25. Article 18 of the ICCPR explicitly prohibits coercion in matters of religion or belief. Yet, according to interlocutors, many indigenous peoples today are still being forcibly converted to non-indigenous religions "to survive" amidst State and religious institutions' threats of violence, hostility, and discrimination. Actors in Mexico have reportedly coerced indigenous women to participate in majoritarian Catholic activities,50 while others in Malaysia have pressured indigenous peoples' conversion to Islam by offering better housing.51 In Brazil, civil society has raised concerns over the head of the federal Indigenous Affairs Department unit charged with protecting uncontacted indigenous tribes, fearing improper pressure for their conversion.52 26. Although State recognition is not theoretically required to exercise one's freedom of religion or belief, denial of recognition poses practical challenges. At least 18 States deny recognition of indigenous peoples and/or their spirituality, typically through arbitrary administrative requirements.53 For instance, without the US Bureau of Indian Affairs' recognition, the Winnemem Wintu tribe describes lacking uninterrupted access to their lands to perform coming-of-age ceremonies; or participation in decisions about spiritually significant fisheries.54 Without a listed option for indigenous spirituality, followers of Kepercayaan spirituality in Indonesia allegedly identify themselves as "Hindus" to receive national identification cards.55 B. Relationship to indigenous land 27. The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned at widespread reports of States failing to protect or deliberately undermining indigenous peoples' occupation, access, or use of indigenous lands without FPIC, with significant implications for their enjoyment of spirituality.56 For the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, "any impediment to, or interference with accessing the natural environment [has] considerable repercussions on [Ogieks'] enjoyment of freedom of worship."57 Likewise, the relocation of burial sites has prohibited indigenous peoples from practising traditional burial ceremonies.58 Growing 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 8 https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/IPS_Boarding_Schools.pdf. https://www.bia.gov/sites/default/files/dup/inlinefiles/bsi_investigative_report_may_2022_508.pdf,(p.53). https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/01/Volume_5_Legacy_English_Web.pdf. https://unpo.org/downloads/2718.pdf,(pp.12-14); https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=5940&file=EnglishTranslation,(pp.12). https://www.csw.org.uk/mexicoreport2022.htm,(p.55). https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.625.6689&rep=rep1&type=pdf, (p.487). https://www.survivalinternational.org/articles/evangelical-missionary-Brazil-uncontacted-tribes. USA, Ecuador, Bangladesh, India, Rwanda, Cameroon, Russia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Japan, Mongolia, Norway, French Guiana (France), Algeria, Nepal, Tanzania. https://intercontinentalcry.org/tribal-leaders-challenge-forest-service-to-protect-native-womensrights/. Consultation-South East Asia. ILO Convention 169; UNDRIP art.26. ACommHR v. Kenya,(para.164). Plan de Sánchez v. Guatemala,(para.36(4)). Also https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/10/869/htm