A/HRC/15/53 37. On 30 January 2010, a complaint was lodged by the Muslim Cultural Association in the town of Crépy-en-Valois, France, after local residents reportedly discovered graffiti on the walls of a Muslim place of worship. Such graffiti included the words “Islam out of Europe”, “Islam out”, as well as a blue, white and red flag and a Celtic cross. An inscription “France to the French” was discovered on a wall in a nearby street where the worshipers usually parked their cars. (b) Observations by the Special Rapporteur on attacks on religious sites 38. The Special Rapporteur strongly condemns all attacks perpetrated against religious sites. In this regard, he would like to recall the existing international human rights standards to protect religious sites. For instance, according to article 6 (a) of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief,3 the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief includes the freedom, “to worship or assemble in connection with a religion or belief, and to establish and maintain places for these purposes”. Furthermore, in its resolution 55/254 on protection of religious sites, the General Assembly “calls upon all States to exert their utmost efforts to ensure that religious sites are fully respected and protected in conformity with international standards and in accordance with their national legislation and to adopt adequate measures aimed at preventing such acts or threats of violence”. In its general comment No. 22, the Human Rights Committee stated that “the freedom to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching encompasses a broad range of acts. The concept of worship extends to ritual and ceremonial acts giving direct expression to belief, as well as various practices integral to such acts, including the building of places of worship”. 39. In relation to places of worship, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to the work undertaken by Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. In her report to the sixty-first session of the Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2005/61), she stressed that “places of worship are an essential element of the manifestation of the right to freedom of religion or belief to the extent that the great majority of religious communities or communities of belief need the existence of a place of worship where their members can manifest their faith” (E/CN.4/2005/61, para. 50). She also stated that places of worship, cemeteries, monasteries or community headquarters have more than a material significance for the religious community attached to them. Believers are in a situation of special vulnerability whenever they find themselves in places of worship, given the nature of their activities. She further stated that she was “therefore of the opinion that States should pay increased attention to attacks on places of worship and ensure that all perpetrators of such attacks are properly prosecuted and tried” (para. 49). Moreover, she emphasized that “attacks or other forms of restriction on places of worship in many cases violate the rights not only of a single believer, but also of a group of individuals forming the community that is attached to the place in question” (A/64/159, para. 11). C. Religious and ethnic profiling (a) Cases received by the Special Rapporteur 40. According to the 2009 Global Sikh Civil Rights Report,4 there have been a number of cases where Sikhs have been incorrectly detained and face harassment when entering the 3 4 GE.10-14999 Ibid. Jaspreet Singh et al., 2009 Global Sikh Civil Rights Report: A Civil Rights Report on the State of the Sikh Nations (United Sikhs, 2009), pp. 70–72. Available from http://unitedsikhs.org/Annual_Reports/ 2009_Sikh_Civil_Rights_Report.pdf. 9