A/HRC/61/41 instance, Ahmadi in Pakistan 29 and Baha'is in Egypt 30 cannot register their religious affiliation on official documents, which is a clear violation of article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As the Special Rapporteur pointed out in a previous report,31 States Members of the United Nations not only recognized the existence of persons belonging to minorities, but also their identities, by adopting the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; therefore, such forms of exclusion may not be tolerated either. All these forms of discrimination must be firmly condemned and immediately stopped. “Invisibilization” 3. 59. “Invisibilization” is another form of discrimination. It may have a different intensities and consequences for persons belonging to minorities. Some States deny the existence of minorities and therefore of minority issues. Such is the case of France, for example. However, despite the fact that the rights of minorities are not recognized by French legislation and denied by French official discourse, there are minority issues in the country, such as the non-recognition of and discrimination against linguistic minorities and discrimination against religious minorities. Other States, such as Greece and Türkiye, use the recognition of rights to some designated religious minorities under treaty obligations32 as grounds for denying the existence of other minorities and their issues. Such formal denials have no effect on the existence of minority issues. As the Human Rights Committee stated, in its general comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities, the existence of an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in a given State Party did not depend upon a decision by that State Party, but was required to be established by objective criteria.33 It is therefore according to such objective criteria that minority issues must be defined and addressed, and not as States may define them. 60. The most common form of invisibilization is the non-recognition of minorities in data collection. While not directly discriminatory, it has indirect effects, as public policies and budget allocations rely on such data; the absence of specific data leaves minority issues unaddressed. The following two much more severe forms of invisibilization are clear, direct violations of human rights provisions: (a) assimilation policies, which offer to persons belonging to minorities non-discriminatory treatment, as long as they renounce the specific aspects of their minority identity. Such policies that have been used in nation-building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are contrary to the principle enshrined in article 1 of the Declaration through which States committed themselves to recognizing the existence and identity of persons belonging to a minority; and (b) denial of identity registration (see para. 57 above). 4. Discrimination in access to public spaces or services 61. Restricting access to public space or services is unfortunately the most common form of discrimination. With regard to the provision of public services, it is important that in State infrastructure and development strategies, regions where minorities are concentrated not receive less attention and investment than others. This would otherwise lead to systemic discrimination in access to services, be it in the development and maintenance of infrastructure (roads, access to drinking water and irrigation, sanitation) or social services (education, public health, security and public housing). Even though not directly targeting persons belonging to minorities, such unequal attention from State authorities or State budget allocations constitutes structural and severe forms of discrimination, which prevent persons belonging to minorities from equally enjoying their rights within society as a whole. Among other things, clientelistic practices by dominant groups holding positions of power in public 29 30 31 32 33 GE.25-20927 See www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/06/the-ahmadis-deserve-to-practice-their-religion-andcelebrate-eid-without-fear-for-their-safety-and-liberty/. See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=29803. See A/HRC/58/54. Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, arts. 38–45. Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 23 (1994) on the rights of minorities, para 5.2. 9