A/HRC/46/30 positive representations or presenting discriminatory tropes. 88 Reports also highlight that China has closed hundreds of Arabic language and Islamic schools, forcibly placed nearly half a million – mostly Uighur – children in boarding schools and imprisoned Islamic scholars.89 Other discriminatory barriers for Muslim students are subtler, with teachers lowering expectations for Muslims based on stereotypes of their ethno-religious background, thereby investing less time and fewer resources in Muslims, few Muslim teachers being hired and no reporting or support mechanisms being available for victims of Islamophobia. 90 Physical barriers, including poor infrastructure and few teachers, may result in further discrimination based on religious identity and contribute to Muslim minorities’ lower educational outcomes.91 While Muslim minorities may experience poor housing conditions because of their socioeconomic status, reports suggest that religion-based discrimination is an aggravating factor, often intersecting with xenophobia and racism. Public and private actors reportedly discriminate against Muslims in housing markets by, for example, charging higher rents, rejecting rental applications or physically threatening Muslims. In one Lebanese town, officials have prohibited Muslims from buying or renting property92 and, in Belgium, 38 per cent of Muslims of Moroccan descent have reported at least one negative experience when looking for rental property.93 The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has articulated the difficulties faced by ethno-religious Muslim minorities in accessing housing outside of minority-populated areas, amounting to de facto segregation.94 It has been reported that Muslims in two States are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 because they live in poor housing or segregated residential areas.95 Access to adequate housing is particularly challenging for Muslims who – often due to religion-based discrimination – are internally displaced, refugees or migrants or who have been forcibly displaced with little or no compensation.96 The Human Rights Committee has expressed concern regarding the living conditions of largely Muslim internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka. 97 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh reportedly occupy temporary settlements without adequate shelter, water and sanitation and face the prospect of forced relocation to a remote, flood-prone island.98 Nationality and immigration The ability of persons to enjoy a range of human rights frequently depends on their citizenship, nationality or immigration status. The Special Rapporteur has received reports that Muslims in some States have, collectively and individually, had their citizenship withdrawn, while in other States tropes of Muslims as “terrorists” or as being “hostile to equality” underlie discriminatory immigration policies. Since its inception in 2018, the process to create a national register of citizens in the northern Indian State of Assam has disproportionately excluded Bengali-speaking Muslims, including Muslims whose families have lived in the State for generations, from the list of 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 Cambodia, Canada, Myanmar, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as Kosovo. www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html and www.npr.org/2020/11/21/932169863/china-targets-muslim-scholars-and-writers-with-increasinglyharsh-restrictions?t=1613993657614. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/599c3d2febbd1a90cffdd8a9/t/5bfd1ea3352f531a6170 ceee/1543315109493/Islamophobia+Defined.pdf. A/75/385, para. 41. Consultation for the Middle East and North Africa region. Submission by Belgium. CERD/C/SWE/CO/22-23, para. 18. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ data/file/642220/Young_Muslims_SMC.pdf; https://science.thewire.in/health/why-is-gujarat-a-covid19-hotspot/. See, e.g., Cambodia, India and Kenya. CERD/C/LKA/CO/10-17, para. 25. www.unhcr.org/uk/rohingya-emergency.html; www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55177688. 11