A/HRC/58/49 by religious norms7 and violence committed in the name of religion.8 The Special Rapporteur notes that these issues, which disproportionately affect members of minority groups and women, are rightly and routinely raised by the United Nations and have been explored in United Nations documents, including other reports under this mandate.9 6. The second is related to the protection of asylum-seekers and non-refoulement; these issues are equally significant and fall within the ambit of the present report. 10 However, this topic is so vast that it merits its own report, which is already in the planning phase by the Special Rapporteur for her next report to the General Assembly. 7. The present report will be focused on converging areas of freedom of religion or belief and the prohibition of torture that have not received adequate attention in United Nations documents or the literature.11 The select issues explored in the report relate to different forms of coercion, including discriminatory policies and systemic discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disrespect for burial rituals and destruction of cemeteries, general restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in places of deprivation of liberty, and aggravated ill-treatment tailored to degrade people on the basis of their religion or belief. III. International legal standards, thresholds and obligations A. International legal standards 1. Customary international law 8. The prohibition of torture is part of customary international law. 12 It is also “recognized as forming part of jus cogens and entailing, on the part of States, obligations erga omnes towards the international community as a whole”.13 Jus cogens or peremptory norms of general international law have been defined by the International Law Commission as “a norm from which no derogation is permitted and which can be modified only by a subsequent norm of general international law having the same character”. 14 Simply put, torture is prohibited everywhere and in all situations, even in armed conflicts. 15 9. Freedom of religion or belief has not achieved jus cogens status, and it requires a treaty obligation as well as domestic norms in order to be fully implemented. Nevertheless, if someone suffers torture by virtue of their religion or belief, this would be a violation of jus cogens. Furthermore, given its erga omnes character, “any State is entitled to invoke the responsibility of another State for a breach of a peremptory norm of general international law (jus cogens), in accordance with the rules on the responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts”.16 Consequently, the most egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief which involve torture and ill-treatment can be prosecuted by any State in the world. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 GE.24-24412 E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.2, paras. 67, 68 and 100. A/HRC/28/66, paras. 3 and 4. See, for example, A/HRC/43/48; and joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2019) on harmful practices. A/HRC/34/50, para. 53. Exceptions include Franz Matscher, ed., Folterverbot sowie Religions- und Gewissensfreiheit im Rechtsvergleich (Kehl am Rhein, Germany, Engel, 1990); and Heiner Bielefeldt, Nazila Ghanea and Michael Weiner, Freedom of Religion or Belief: An International Law Commentary (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2016), chap. 3.2. Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law: Volume I – Rules (Geneva, International Committee of the Red Cross; Cambridge, United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, 2005), rule 90. E/CN.4/1987/35, para. 73. The International Law Commission also includes the prohibition of torture in its non-exhaustive list of norms that have jus cogens status (A/74/10), draft conclusion 23, annex, (g)). Committee against Torture, general comment No. 2 (2007), para. 1, reinforces the peremptory jus cogens of the prohibition of torture. A/74/10, draft conclusion 2; and Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, art. 53. Common articles 3 and 12 of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. A/74/10, draft conclusion 17 (2). 3