A/59/366 13. On 24 May 2004, the Government of Bangladesh responded that its Constitution provides protection for the rights of every citizen irrespective of faith, gender, creed and ethnicity. Like all communities, the Ahmadiyyas are not only guaranteed constitutional rights but also have equal access to all opportunities. Members of the community have risen to high levels of the public service, both civil and military. They enjoy freedom of worship. The community has its own religious centres and places of worship. The Government is committed to upholding their rights and providing security to community leaders as well as their places of worship. In the face of recent events, the Movement has provided police protection to members of the community. Necessary measures were also taken by the Government to safeguard their mosques. Police were deployed to thwart attempts from certain quarters to march on an Ahmadiyya mosque. The Movement has also made it clear that there will be no change in the religious status of the Ahmadiyyas. Some Ahmadiyya publications were, however, banned as they contained materials that might offend the majority Muslims of Bangladesh. Belarus 14. On 15 March 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent to the Government of Belarus information according to which religious organizations across Belarus faced compulsory re-registration under the new law on religion passed in November 2002. In this context, in May and June 2003, Pentecostal evangelists Aleksandr Balyk and Aleksandr Tolochko were fined for allegedly conducting unregistered home worship in the region of Grodno. 15. The law on religion reportedly confines the activity of a religious organization to a defined area, often a single village, town or region of the country, and it has also been reported that according to the law only republic-wide religious organizations registered in Minsk have the right to found monasteries and convents. The Greek Catholic Church reportedly has no such central body in Belarus, making it difficult to obtain recognition for its monastery in Polotsk. 16. Lastly, the law on religion allegedly criminalizes the “attraction of minors to religious organizations and also the teaching of religion to them against their will or without the agreement of their parents or guardians”. It had been reported that local authorities are demanding that religious organizations supply the names and dates of birth of all the children attending their Sunday schools. 17. On 10 June 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent information according to which thousands of Jewish graves had been desecrated since June 2003 in Grodno, where a historic cemetery was being excavated to expand a football stadium. Among those buried in the cemetery reportedly are thousands of Jews killed in the Holocaust and important Jewish sages. China 18. On 16 June 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent information to the Government of China stating that, since 20 July 1999, when the Government banned Falun Gong, over 1,600 practitioners of Falun Gong had been tortured or beaten, several hundred had been given prison sentences of over 20 years, others had been interned in mental hospitals and a large number had been sent to labour camps without trial. At the time of the communication, an unspecified number of practitioners were 5