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promotion and the protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and
the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions recalling
that freedom of religion or belief was guaranteed by the Constitution and denying
the allegations in the communication. The more than 147,000 Lao Christians
practised their faith freely, attended the church of their choice and lived in harmony
with other religious communities.
Mexico
53. On 14 June 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent to the Government of Mexico
information according to which more than 80 adults and children belonging to the
indigenous Huichol tribe, which had converted to the Christian Gospel faith, were
threatened with eviction from their homes in Tenzompa, Jalisco, Mexico.
54. According to the information received, their problems began in 1987, in their
ancestral village of Santa Catarina, when this small group began to build a church.
Members of the group were allegedly kidnapped and imprisoned. On 24 August
2002, the Christian Gospel families were expelled from Santa Catarina. They sought
refuge in Tenzompa, where they continue to live in precarious conditions, awaiting
help from the Government. When they did not receive it, they requested the town’s
elders to give them land to cultivate and to build permanent homes. However, they
were instead ordered to leave. If the Government does not intervene, the 18 families
concerned will have to find another place to live, once the school year is over.
Mongolia
55. On 16 March 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent to the Government of
Mongolia information stating that churches would be denied registration on illegal
grounds, or were demanded bribes by local officials. They could also reportedly be
fined for not having been registered with the State, even though this is not
compulsory under the 1993 law on religion. State registration appears to be a
particular problem for indigenous Mongolian Churches.
56. The Special Rapporteur also referred to the allegedly rising social concern
about the activities of Christians in the country, said to be based on the belief that
they advocated suicide. This had reportedly resulted in initiatives to toughen the law
on religion to include a ban on all unregistered religious activities; to making
registration subject to ownership of the building used for worship, a minimum of
500 members and sufficient clergy; a ban on religious activity outside a temple or
church; denial of registration to a religious organization that belonged to a
confession that had been made illegal in any other country, or if it shared the title of
an already registered religious organization; and giving local councils the authority
to determine the percentage of minority religious organizations (in relation to
Buddhist organizations) that would be allowed.
Nigeria
57. On 7 May 2004, the Special Rapporteur sent to the Government of Nigeria
information stating that, on 2 May 2004, about 630 persons, most of them members
of a community of Hausa-speaking Muslims, had been killed as a result of new
interreligious violence in the village of Yelwa-Shendam, Plateau State. It was also
reported that several houses had been destroyed and two mosques badly damaged in
the attack. The attack allegedly followed the killing of almost 100 Christians in
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