A/HRC/37/49/Add.2 institutions were recently ordered to offer six-month-long paid courses on the Qur’an, the tajwid (rules governing the recitation of the Qur’an) and the Arabic language starting from 1 December 2017. The courses will apparently be open for enrolment by more than 700 individuals. 44. The State discourages children under 16 years of age from practising a religion or visiting places of worship. Reportedly, local officials sometimes pressured imams to prevent children from attending Friday prayers, while some students were turned away from Friday prayer services by some authorities, even during school vacations. Both Muslim and Christian parents were discouraged from sending their children to mosque or church services. The extent to which parents were able to organize instruction for children in rituals of religion outside their home appeared to vary across regions and religions. 45. The official view expressed was that children must complete their compulsory education and make an informed choice later if they wish to practise a religion seriously. According to article 9 of the 1998 Law, citizens who leave secondary school may enter a religious institution of higher education or a college, in accordance with the Law on Education. Children do not get any optional religious education in public schools except for some classes providing religious information or “lessons of enlightenment” (study of national culture) in the curriculum; neither do they have other avenues for formal religious instruction, even if their parents may wish so. While the textbooks used for this purpose appeared to teach about religions in a respectful manner, albeit superficially, they did not include reference to Shia Islam for instance. 46. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that the right of parents to provide moral and religious education to their children in accordance with their own convictions and subject to the evolving capacities of the child, is a core element of the freedom of religion or belief as set out in article 18 (4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Any limitation to that right also affects the rights of the religious minorities, as provided for in article 27 of the Covenant and the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. 47. Public displays of religion are generally not considered favourably. Article 184 (1) of the Code of Administrative Offences and article 216 (1) of the Criminal Code prohibit all persons, other than clergy and individuals serving in leadership positions of officially recognized religious organizations, from wearing religious attire in public places. The authorities often question women wearing the hijab in Fergana Valley and they are allegedly encouraged to remove or alter the way they wear it, preferably in the traditional Uzbek style. In some educational institutions, girls are forbidden to attend classes if they are wearing headscarves. Schools have called parents to interrogate them and girls have been threatened with being placed on a special list by the Mahalla. A teacher was dismissed from her job for wearing the hijab; she allegedly faced continued monitoring by the authorities, was summoned by the police, had her house searched for religious literature and accused of illegally teaching the Qur’an. 48. The limitations occasioned by the registration requirement leave religious communities trapped in a vicious cycle of violations of the law. In order to be registered, religious communities need to have a certain number of believers. However, without the right to share their religion freely with others, it is difficult for religious communities to increase the membership, hence almost impossible to be registered. Without the required registration, religious communities cannot carry out religious activities in groups or in public, neither can they establish a central administrative body to set up religious institutions to allow their members to learn about their religion or be trained as religious personnel. In short, these limitations seriously violate the right to freedom of religion or belief. V. Fight against extremism 49. The fight against extremism came up in almost every conversation that the Special Rapporteur had with his interlocutors in Uzbekistan. Often, extremism was described by the authorities as the main challenge facing the country, if not the region, and hence justified the need for strict State control of religions and regulation of religious activities in the 9