A/HRC/37/49 “Religious States” (a) 52. A subset of these countries, considered to be “religious States”, explicitly identify as confessional States; or States which officially propagate a particular religion and encourage their citizens to do likewise. These States, typically, possess systems of support that, in effect, grant the official religion a monopoly in religious and State affairs. In doing so, religious States take a proactive interest in the preservation and propagation of State religions — an endeavour that, at times, conflicts with a range of other obligations that must also be observed in order to both realize freedom of religion or belief for all persons and protect a range of other human rights. 53. Government efforts to secure and preserve the monopoly that State religions have in the public affairs of these countries often involve: (a) the application of high levels of restrictions on the rights of individuals that do not subscribe to the majority religion; (b) a high degree of regulation of the institutions and associations of minority religions; and (c) a propensity to enforce religious precepts of the State religion. As such, religious States are more likely to discriminate against minority religions and tend to place high levels of restrictions on freedom of religion or belief of all. 54. In some of these countries, members of non-favoured religions are prohibited from engaging in public acts of religious expression among members of the favoured religion, and places of worship used by the former are often placed under government surveillance in order to ensure that members of the favoured religion do not attend religious services held on those premises. Governments may also prohibit women from praying in public or impose dress codes on them. Moreover, the conversion of religious minorities to the State religion is encouraged, but conversions away from the predominant religion is antithetical to the State’s interests and therefore strongly discouraged or even sanctioned. This also means that proselytism by minority religions or beliefs to members of the dominant religion is either strongly discouraged or prohibited. 55. Some religious States constitutionally reserve an important position and role for the religious precepts of the State religion, for example by requiring religious doctrine to be “a source” or “the source” of legislation or by prohibiting the adoption of laws that contravene religious doctrine. Such entanglements between the political organizations of the State and religious authority and governance often result in the mainstreaming of religious laws within the State’s legislative, executive and judicial activities. This includes laws that define the relationship religious States have with minority religions and those that govern personal status laws, including laws that govern matters such as sexual and reproductive rights, marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. 56. Members of a particular faith may enjoy privileged access to public office, including by reserving the office of the head of State or head of Government or other senior positions for members of that faith. Women may also be excluded from holding certain public posts, such as Head of State or certain positions in the judiciary. There can also be governmental control of clerical positions within the dominant religion. 57. Religious instruction may be compulsory in public schools or the authorities may in other ways interfere with the freedom of religion or belief of children or with parental rights regarding the education of their children. Religious minorities might face severe restrictions in the dissemination of knowledge about their traditions or in the training of their clerical order. 58. Several States with official or preferred religions restrict religion or belief by formally banning certain religious groups. Among those countries in the world that have this kind of ban in place, 44 per cent are countries with an official State religion, while 24 per cent are countries that have a preferred or favoured religion. Banning of religious groups is much less common among States that do not have an official or preferred religion, with only three countries in this category maintaining formal bans on particular groups in 2015. 29 In addition to States criminalizing atheism, the use of anti-blasphemy and anti- 29 Ibid. 13