A/HRC/46/30 Special Rapporteur notes that majority Muslim States have denied permits for places of worship to Muslim minority communities.63 Slovakia has reportedly increased the number of signatures required to register a mosque or religious community from 20,000 to 50,000, effectively barring Muslims from registration due to their low population. It was also reported to the Special Rapporteur that law enforcement and intelligence officers in some Western countries surveil mosques and their attendees in the name of counter-terrorism. At least four States surveyed have encroached upon the freedom of Muslims to nominate their own religious leaders.64 China has appointed imams for its Uighur minority since 1990. Austria has amended its 1912 law on Islam with controversial provisions regulating the content of Islamic teachings and the training, hiring and removal of Muslim clerics. The Special Rapporteur has also received reports indicating that hundreds of mosques, shrines and Muslim cemeteries in Myanmar are being destroyed,65 that mosques in China are being forcibly “renovated” through the removal of minarets and Arabic script66 and that State actors in Muslim majority States have destroyed religious sites belonging to minority Muslim communities.67 Restrictions on the ability of Muslim communities to establish and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions have dramatically increased in recent years. In 2020, the French authorities closed two Muslim charities, BarakaCity and Collective against Islamophobia in France, alleging that they were engaged in provoking terrorism. 68 In 2020, India shuttered Amnesty International’s India office, a move that was reportedly triggered by its report on the 2020 Delhi riots, in which the police was accused of human rights violations against Muslims.69 Officially, the office was closed for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, a law that the special procedures of the Human Rights Council have described as obstructive towards civil society. 70 In a move that the European Commission has challenged,71 Hungary passed a so-called “stop Soros” package of laws in an effort to prevent non-governmental organizations from aiding migrants from Muslim countries and to impose 25 per cent higher taxes on such organizations “supporting immigration”.72 In the United States, civil society has expressed concern that Presidential emergency powers have a broad scope and have been used to disproportionately target Muslims and their organizations without due process.73 Economic exclusion In 20 States surveyed, it was reported that Muslims experienced discrimination in their efforts to access goods and services, including in public transport, airports, administrative offices, shops and restaurants.74 Principal among the issues concerning European Muslims is unemployment. 75 When surveyed, one third of Muslims in 15 States members of the 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 UA DZA 3/2017. Austria (OL AUT 1/2014 and CCPR/C/AUT/CO/5), China (https://freedomhouse.org/report/2017/battle-china-spirit-islam-religious-freedom), France (https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/10/07/macron-wants-to-start-an-islamic-revolution/) and Greece (submission by the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe). Submission by Justice for All. www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Religion/Submissions/CSOs/53.nuc-uhrp-wuc.pdf. AL SAU 7/2015 and AL BHR 6/2015. Submission by Action Droits des Musulmans. AL IND 17/2020. www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20112&LangID=E. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_19_4260. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ACT3096472019ENGLISH.PDF, p. 26. www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/10-2419_aclu_letter_to_senate_on_article_one_act_s._764_to_reform_national_emergencies_act.pdf. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States. www.pewresearch.org/global/2006/07/06/muslims-in-europe-economic-worries-top-concerns-aboutreligious-and-cultural-identity/. 9