A/HRC/61/50 incidents also reportedly occurred elsewhere in the region, in Qeebar, Ghazzaweh and Qastal Jando.83 67. In Myanmar, the Par Moe Ne` and Awba Chaung cemeteries were reportedly forcibly acquisitioned in the southern Shan State. Residents of Taunggyi Township were compelled to relocate the cemeteries after Thiha Development Company Limited acquired the land to construct a shopping centre, despite community objections.84 68. In Haiti, desecration and degradation of Voodoo cemeteries and other places linked to ancestral traditions are reportedly regular occurrences, destroying physical spaces and undermining the cultural and spiritual heritage of communities. 85 69. In Uttarakhand, India, over the past three years a sustained campaign of demolitions targeting mazars, small Sufi shrines (some from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) and grave sites and of desecration of human remains has been reported. The demolitions have been carried out by the State forest and revenue departments, often accompanied by the police, on the pretext of “anti-encroachment” drives or “illegal structure removal”, yet the operations have overwhelmingly targeted Muslim sites. Officials and the media have used terms such as “land jihad” to describe those acts, portraying the Muslim sacred spaces as threats rather than places of devotion.86 70. In Bangladesh, on 5 September 2025, the grave of Nurul Haque Molla was forcibly desecrated in Goalanda, Rajbari District. A mob exhumed and burned the body, while vandalizing his Sufi shrine, reportedly because his grave resembled the Kaaba. Clashes resulted in at least one death and over 100 injuries. Between August 2024 and August 2025, over 100 burial sites were reportedly vandalized, desecrated or demolished,87 and there have been corpse desecrations, bodysnatching, idol and shrine vandalization and arson, especially affecting Sufi sites, often with impunity.88 71. There has been a marked increase in antisemitic desecration of Jewish cemeteries around the world, including vandalism of 39 Jewish cemeteries in Germany in 2024 alone.89 Since October 2023, gravestones at the Jewish cemetery in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, have been defaced with neo-Nazi symbols, graves in the Humenné cemetery in Slovakia have been vandalized with swastikas, Jewish graves have been desecrated in a First World War cemetery in France, and more than 170 headstones have been overturned in a Cincinnati cemetery in the United States of America. It is imperative that Governments recognize such acts as religiously motivated hate crimes, ensure accountability and restore affected sites.90 72. Throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran, there have been reports of a State-condoned, systematic campaign of vandalism and destruction, through arson, graffiti and ransacking, aimed at Baha’i cemeteries. Since the 1980s, Baha’i cemeteries, including Khavaran and Kabirabad in Tehran and sites in other cities such as Shiraz, Yazd, Najafabad and Ahvaz, have been bulldozed, graves exhumed and remains removed, allegedly to make way for government cultural development projects. There has been an escalation of attacks in 2024 and 2025, with new Baha’i graves in Tehran razed, mortuary buildings destroyed, damage from fires, access to cemeteries blocked and burials restricted through the digging of trenches.91 73. In Pakistan, there are reports of hundreds of Ahmadi graves being desecrated. On 24 January 2024, in the Sialkot District, four police officials from Daska police station reportedly desecrated 65 Ahmadi graves in Moosaywala and 10 in Bhairokay, destroying gravestones and painting others black. Despite formal complaints, no accountability 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 14 Submission from Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Submission from Myanmar FoRB Network. Submission from Fedna Antoine. Submission from Indian American Muslim Council. Submission from Hand in Hand Foundation. Submission from Global Center for Democratic Governance, Canada. Submission from German Commission for Justice and Peace. Submission from World Jewish Congress. Submission from Baha’i International Community on the Islamic Republic of Iran. GE.25-21055