A/HRC/46/30 verified citizens and instead declared them “illegal immigrants”. 99 The Citizenship Amendment Act of India fast-tracks the citizenship of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian individuals who arrived from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan before 2015; the absence of Muslims from that list is notable.100 Myanmar has denied citizenship to its predominately Muslim, Rohingya ethnic minority since 1982. Successive governments have claimed that no such ethnic group as “Rohingya” exists, preferring to label the community as “Bengali illegal immigrants”. Most recently, Myanmar introduced national verification cards to enable individuals to gain access to public services and required Rohingya to register as Bengali to obtain one. 101 Faced with resistance from Rohingya against registering as Bengali, the Myanmar authorities have reportedly responded with arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance and torture.102 In other States, Muslims are denied citizenship or legal immigration status due to xenophobic and racialized perceptions that Muslims represent national security and terrorism threats. It is reported that the United States disproportionately applies its Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program – a largely secretive, extreme vetting process for immigrants perceived to be a threat to national security – to immigrants of Arab, Middle Eastern and South Asian origin or ethnicity with the result that a significant number of applications from Muslims are indefinitely postponed or denied without proper notice, justification or the possibility to appeal.103 The Program has also reportedly been used to pressure Muslims into gathering intelligence on their local communities for use by law enforcement agencies.104 It was also reported to the Special Rapporteur that States have denied citizenship applications in response to individuals’ expression of religion or belief, alleging an incompatibility between certain Muslim practices and “national values” such as gender equality. 105 Three European States have rejected citizenship applications by individuals unwilling to shake hands with a government representative so as not to violate their religious belief that it is prohibited to touch someone of another gender with whom they are neither intimate nor related.106 Denmark has reportedly adopted similar policies, although the Special Rapporteur has not received any reports of Muslims being refused citizenship on this basis to date.107 Similarly, one of the reasons cited by a French court in upholding a decision to deny citizenship to a Muslim woman was her practice of wearing a burka.108 Relatedly, representatives of four European States have publicly rejected Muslim refugees or migrants in their societies, amid accusations of preferential treatment for Christian refugees.109 Hungary and Slovakia have challenged the European Union policy of mandatory reallocation of refugees and migrants of Middle Eastern and North African origin before the European Court of Justice, 110 in the context of those States’ leaders publicly claiming that Muslims were “criminals” “who are impossible to integrate”111 and that the 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 12 OL IND 11/2019, OL IND 13/2018 and OL IND 29/2018. AL IND 3/2020. A/HRC/40/37, paras. 22–26, and A/75/335, para. 31. www.fortifyrights.org/downloads/Tools%20of%20Genocide%20-%20Fortify%20Rights %20-%20September-03-2019-EN.pdf. See also A/HRC/38/52. www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/carrp-muslims-need-not-apply-aclu-socal-report.pdf. Ibid. www.oasiscenter.eu/en/islam-in-europe-paradoxes-of-integration-debate. France (www.conseil-etat.fr/fr/arianeweb/CRP/conclusion/2018-04-11/412462?download_pdf), Germany (http://lrbw.juris.de/cgi-bin/laender_rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bw&nr=32523) and Switzerland (www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45232147). Submission by the Centre for Danish-Muslim Relations. www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ceta/id/CETATEXT000019081211/. Czechia (https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/jnmlp/12/2/article-p192.xml?language=en), Hungary, Poland (www.ceemr.uw.edu.pl/sites/default/files/Gozdziak_Marton_Where_the_Wild_Things_Are.pdf) and Slovakia (www.politico.eu/article/robert-fico-islam-no-place-news-slovakia-muslim-refugee/). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/en/TXT/PDF/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.C_.2017.374.01.0004.01.ENG. https://domov.sme.sk/c/20070758/fico-musime-zabranit-vzniku-ucelenej-moslimskej-komunity-naslovensku.html.