A/HRC/61/50 vision. For Indigenous Peoples, honouring the dead is closely linked to ceremonies held in sacred places. Lack of effective recognition of those practices limits their funeral rights and creates cultural tensions.42 D. Specific provision for diversity of religion and belief burial practices 37. In Austria, constitutional guarantees reportedly support the right of relatives to bury the dead according to their religious rites in public burial facilities which are explicitly interdenominational and which may not discriminate on the basis of religion or other distinctions. Burials in both Jewish and Islamic cemeteries may be carried out only with the consent of a competent religious community. Religious communities must allow burials using the rites of another religious community in their cemeteries under certain conditions. Public cemeteries in Vienna are interdenominational by law. They operate under an internal rules document (Bestattungsanlagenordnung), which also serves as a contractual framework and sets out how different religious and cultural funeral rites are to be respected. In addition, Vienna has denomination-specific private cemeteries belonging to legally recognized religious communities.43 38. In Colombia, the Constitutional Court has found that constitutional protection of freedom of religion or belief and the provision that all religious denominations and churches are equally free before the law includes burial rites. Religious burial rites and cemeteries are protected by law. 44 Nevertheless, barriers can arise at the municipal level, such as in the allocation of space or the management of civil rather than religious cemeteries, requiring municipalities to ensure access for all belief systems. 45 39. In Serbia, the law on burials and cemeteries requires that burials respect the expressed wishes of the deceased, including cremation preferences. Remains must stay in a grave for a minimum of 10 years. Where relatives cannot take responsibility for performing a burial, local self-government units or municipal authorities must ensure burial.46 40. The question of stillborn children and deceased fetuses also relates to freedom of religion or belief, given the differing views on the beginning of life. In Slovenia, following a recommendation from the Ombudsman, a new legal provision allows parents to request funeral arrangements for a fetus, regardless of gestational age. That has addressed the legal gap whereby some municipalities did not allow funerals if the fetus had not reached a gestational age of 22 weeks.47 E. Mourning practices and commemorations 41. Ostensibly neutral laws that affect funeral rights stretch far, even to labour law and laws on traditions. In Tajikistan, the Act on Regulating Traditions, Celebrations and Rituals severely restricts Islamic mourning practices, banning the customary offering of food on the third, seventh and fortieth days after a funeral. Officials have asserted that the aim of the amendments introducing those restrictions in 2017 was to prevent excessive spending and borrowing for, inter alia, funerals.48 In Argentina, mourning leave is provided in the labour law but does not fully account for diverse religious rites such as the Jewish shiva.49 In some instances, access to cemeteries is restricted or barred and can affect funeral rights.50 In 2012, the previous mandate holder reported on one Islamic cemetery in Cyprus that lacked the 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 GE.25-21055 Confidential input. Submissions from Austria and Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, Austria. Submission from Office of the Ombudsman, Colombia. Submission from Colombia. Submission from Serbia. Submission from Human Rights Ombudsman, Slovenia. See also European Court of Human Rights, Hadri-Vionnet v. Switzerland, Application No. 55525/00, Judgment, 14 February 2008; and Marić v. Croatia, Application No. 50132/12, Judgment, 12 June 2014. A/HRC/55/47/Add.1, paras. 32 and 33. Submission from Argentina. Submission from Serbia. 9