A/HRC/61/49
protect the environment while respecting cultural rights. The Special Rapporteur warmly
thanks the 78 stakeholders that provided responses, which have informed her reflections. 3
II. Overview of activities
A.
Communications
7.
At the time of writing, the Special Rapporteur had either led on or joined
86 communications relating to alleged cultural rights violations, 4 addressed to 34 countries5
and 32 other actors, since her previous report to the Human Rights Council. The Special
Rapporteur thanks the 30 stakeholders that provided responses to these communications.
8.
The alleged cultural rights violations addressed in the communications included
destruction of cultural heritage due to development projects and the conduct of business
activities. In particular, the Special Rapporteur regretted the reported denial of communities’
right to fully take part in decision-making processes regarding development projects that have
an impact on their cultural life and reported violations of the right to free, prior and informed
consent of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
9.
Communications on such matters were sent to Bangladesh6 and Indonesia.7 In some
instances, the Special Rapporteur addressed communications to multiple States and
commercial enterprises, where they were involved directly or indirectly in a particular
situation (such as Mexico,8 with related letters sent to Germany9 and Switzerland10 and to
three other actors; and the Plurinational State of Bolivia,11 with related letters sent to Canada12
and Switzerland 13 and to five other actors). The Special Rapporteur also sent a
communication to the International Monetary Fund.14 Similar issues were raised concerning
a military construction project in Palau.15
10.
The Special Rapporteur also addressed issues relating to:
(a)
The right of persons to express their identity, to practise their language and
religion or to manifest their cultural practices without fear and reprisal, in Azerbaijan, China,
Egypt, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Tajikistan, Thailand, Türkiye, the United States of America
and Viet Nam;16
(b)
The right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity in Algeria and
China.17 In the case of Algeria, the Special Rapporteur notes with satisfaction that Boualem
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GE.26-01310
All submissions are available at www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-contributions-natureconservation-and-cultural-rights.
See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TmSearch/Mandates?m=19.
Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Canada, China,
Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Kazakhstan, Lao
People’s Democratic Republic, Marshall Islands, Mexico, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab
Emirates, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam.
See communication BGD 4/2025 and related communication OTH 115/2025. All communications
mentioned in the present report are available from
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments.
See communications IDN 1/2025 and IDN 8/2025.
See communication MEX 9/2025.
See communication DEU 5/2025.
See communication CHE 4/2025.
See communication BOL 1/2025.
See communication CAN 3/2025.
See communication CHE 2/2025.
See communication OTH 137/2024.
See communications USA 31/2025 and PLW 1/2025.
See communications AZE 2/2025; CHN 14/2025; EGY 1/2025; IND 6/2025; KAZ 4/2024;
QAT 1/2025; TJK 2/2025; THA 5/2025; TUR 11/2025; USA 5/2025, USA 9/2025 and USA 16/2025;
and VNM 5/2025.
See communications DZA 5/2025 and CHN 18/2025.
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