A/67/303 are often exposed to stereotypes and prejudices that may cause violent actions against them. The following non-exhaustive overview is structured along the four categories elaborated in the previous section. 1. Violations of the right to conversion 36. In various regions of the world, converts are confronted with difficulties when trying to live in conformity with their convictions. Some States have criminal law sanctions according to which acts of conversion can be punished as “apostasy”, “heresy”, “blasphemy” or “insult” in respect of a religion or of a country’s national heritage. In extreme cases, this can include the death penalty. In a number of countries, converts run the risk of having their marriage nullified, being excluded from the right to inheritance or losing custody of their children (see A/63/161, para. 37). Such sanctions in family law or other areas of civil law can have dramatic consequences for a person and her or his family. 37. Various administrative obstacles against conversion are an even more widespread phenomenon. In some cases, passports and other official documents continue to reflect the previous religious adherence of converts, often against their explicit will. Reportedly, children of converts have been registered under a different religion than their own, for instance the predominant religion of the country or the religion from which their parents converted. The result can be that the children are obliged to take religious instruction in school that does not reflect their own religion or belief. Such forms of systematic administrative disrespect can also target persons who have been born into a community whose members are collectively stigmatized as “apostates” or “heretics” (see A/HRC/19/60, paras. 40-51). 38. Converts frequently suffer from systematic discrimination in virtually all sectors of society, such as education, housing, employment or health care. Moreover, registration requirements are used for the purpose of exposing converts, possibly with systematic discriminatory intention or effect. This can be the result of deliberate State policies to exclude converts or members of new religious movements stigmatized as “apostates” or “heretics” from higher education and other important societal institutions. Sometimes they cannot even obtain the official documents they need in order to travel, apply for jobs, participate in public elections or enrol their children in school. 39. In other cases, discrimination chiefly stems from societal prejudices often also stoked by public or private media, some of which may present converts as “inimical forces” who allegedly threaten the society’s identity and cohesion. Moreover, converts sometimes experience pressure and mobbing even within their own families or in their close social environment. In extreme cases, this can lead to abductions, ill treatment and killings. It is a bitter irony that they may even experience suspicion within their new religious communities, owing to fear of “fake converts” potentially being planted by a hostile administration to test their political loyalty. 40. As a result of systematic discrimination, widespread hostility, manifestations of public contempt, State repression and persecution, some converts decide to leave their country of origin and try to find a new home elsewhere. When applying for asylum, they may again be treated with suspicion in that the genuineness of their 12-46130 13