Patiala, March 19
Patiala Foundation, an Indian NGO in special consultative status with ECOSOC, delivered a video statement during the 36th meeting of the 61st regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, in the General Debate under Agenda Item 5: Human rights bodies and mechanisms.
Speaking from the perspective of community work in Punjab, CEO Ravee Singh Ahluwalia highlighted how minority protection, cultural rights, democracy and the rule of law are closely interconnected. Through its Project iHERITAGE, Patiala Foundation documents “living heritage” – historic neighbourhoods, libraries, temples and gurdwaras – as spaces of memory and identity for minorities and displaced communities from the Indian subcontinent.
The statement drew attention to recent public reporting on a document presented to Pakistan’s Parliamentary Committee on the Minority Caucus, including by Dawn and other media, indicating that there are 1,285 Hindu worship sites and 532 gurdwaras in Pakistan, of which only 37 are currently functional. While acknowledging demographic change since Partition, Patiala Foundation noted that these figures raise serious concerns that inadequate protection of minority religious heritage can contribute to cultural attrition and a sense of exclusion, even in the absence of overt violence.
Addressing the Council under Item 5, Patiala Foundation:
Encouraged the Forum on Minority Issues and other UN mechanisms to deepen their focus on minority religious heritage, within and across borders, as an essential element of minority rights and early warning efforts.
Called on States to implement recommendations of the Forum on Minority Issues and the Social Forum through concrete national measures, including participatory documentation and protection of minority religious and cultural heritage in consultation with affected communities and diaspora.
Urged support for community-based initiatives that integrate cultural rights, environmental protection and democratic participation, and emphasised the need to safeguard the independence of Special Procedures and ensure safe, unhindered engagement by civil society actors raising sensitive concerns about minority heritage and environmental degradation.
Patiala Foundation stressed that minority rights are incomplete without the rights to memory, identity and worship, and that protecting religious heritage must be recognised as part of the broader agenda of human rights bodies and mechanisms. The organisation reiterated its readiness to share community-level experience from South Asia with UN mechanisms, States and partners working to prevent discrimination and cultural erasure.
