A/HRC/61/50 practices, and members of unregistered religious organizations should not be sanctioned for manifesting their religion or belief.12 25. The previous mandate holder noted in his mission report on Viet Nam that the majority of the population does not belong to one of the officially recognized religious communities, that religious practices are tightly controlled by the Government and that members of unrecognized communities face many hurdles in practising their religion or belief, 13 including funeral rights. It has been reported that government authorities often disrupt burials of the traditional independent Cao Dai religion. In one instance, for example, government trucks blocked a Cao Dai hearse from entering a cemetery and then stopped the digging of the grave. In another, government-connected thugs reportedly beat up a woman at her house for protesting against the Government’s interference with a Cao Dai burial. The burials of the followers of the Government-established Cao Dai Administrative Council, however, proceed unhindered.14 26. The Supreme Court of Nepal upheld the Government’s prohibition on burials in the Shleshmantak Forest within the Pashupatinath Temple area, 15 reportedly excluding nonHindu groups from using public land for burials, with implications for Christians, Muslims, Kirats and others. While the Court ordered the State to designate alternative sites and allocate burial land for religious minorities, those directives remain unimplemented, leaving minority communities without State-recognized burial places. 27. Gamal Abdel Nasser issued a Presidential decree in 1960 banning the Baha’is in Egypt. Since then, Baha’is have been prohibited from using public cemeteries or acquiring new land for burials. Despite a 2009 court ruling allowing Bahaʼis to be identified with a dash (–) on national identity cards in order to access their citizenship rights, the authorities have reportedly failed to allocate them adequate cemetery land. Local governorates, which control land distribution, routinely reject or ignore requests for Bahaʼi cemeteries, citing religious objections 16 and alleging that granting such rights would “promote segregation [and] division”.17 Court cases in Alexandria and Port Said (2021–2022) upheld the refusals, entrenching a pattern of denial rooted in the State’s non-recognition of religions outside Islam, Christianity and Judaism.18 The ongoing denial of burial grounds denies the Baha’is in Egypt their rights both in life and in death.19 28. In Pakistan, Ahmadis are constitutionally declared “non-Muslim” under the Constitution (Second Amendment) Act, 1974, and criminalized under Ordinance No. XX of 1984 for identifying as Muslim. That legal framework legitimizes discrimination, extending even to death and burial. The authorities reportedly frequently deny Ahmadis access to public graveyards, desecrate their graves and side with violent mobs that obstruct funerals.20 The country’s local government acts grant administrative control of graveyards to union councils; however, implementation remains discriminatory, including for Hindus and Sikhs. 21 Ahmadiyya graveyards are often reportedly encroached upon and authorities routinely deny burials or fail to protect graveyards from mob desecration. The Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Act and the anti-Ahmadi ordinances are often misused to justify police interference in 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 6 European Court of Human Rights, Rafiyev v. Azerbaijan, Application No. 81028/17, Judgment, 8 July 2025. A/HRC/28/66/Add.2, paras. 6–11. Submission from Boat People SOS. See https://supremecourt.gov.np/web/assets/downloads/sampadan/judgement%20from%20nja%20 kedar%20ghimire/Advocate%20Tulsi%20Simkhada.pdf#:~:text=This%20court%2C%20in%202073%2F3%2F15%20BS%2C,Office%2C%20Kathmand u%20pursuant%20to%20Rule. See also https://kathmandupost.com/national/2024/03/30/court-orderspashupati-trust-to-relocate-burial-site-from-sleshmantak-jungle. Submission from Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Submission from Baha’i International Community on Egypt. Submission from Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. Submission from Baha’i International Community on Egypt. Confidential input. Submission from All Women’s Action Society (AWAM). GE.25-21055