A/HRC/43/48 C. Initiatives to promote respect for and protect the right to equality and non-discrimination while upholding freedom of religion or belief 53. While the information presented to the Special Rapporteur concerning the extent of gender-based violence and discrimination caused by laws or actors citing religious justification worldwide is alarming, the Special Rapporteur is also encouraged by a number of ongoing initiatives being advanced by State and non-State actors aimed at enlisting religious actors and communities in efforts to eliminate barriers to equality, both in society and within religious communities. 54. In the United States, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a national interfaith movement, promotes women’s right to make reproductive decisions based on their own conscience. Participants in the consultations on Latin America referred to the Seguimos Unidos Hasta el Final campaign in El Salvador, which was aimed at provoking greater compassion towards women whose lives were jeopardized by the country’s complete ban on abortion. 55. At the consultations on sub-Saharan Africa, participants highlighted grass-roots religious campaigns such as ImamsForShe in Burundi, which offers educational workshops for religious leaders, sports camps for girls and a weekly radio show to discuss Qur’an-based support for women’s human rights, including the rights to education, health care and equal work opportunities. The Global Interfaith Network leads pilgrimages for religious leaders across the continent to affirm scriptures in the Bible in support of LGBT+ rights. At the consultations in Warsaw, participants referred to communication campaigns in Poland, such as the #jestemLGBT (I am LGBT) campaign on social media, that were challenging the intolerance of LGBT+ persons, and Rainbow Friday initiatives sponsored by nongovernmental organizations that had been encouraging a regular discussion of LGBT+ rights in schools. 56. Participants at the consultations on South and South-East Asia provided information on school instruction about gender-based violence. In Myanmar, the Government adopted a national-level youth policy that focuses on offering students education about sexual orientation and gender identity. In Pakistan, an initiative to include political actors in workshop discussions reportedly helped to advance changes with regard to the legal status of transgender persons; similarly, dialogues with judges in Indonesia have explored religious texts and their relationship to gender discrimination. In Nepal, human rights defenders often invoke religious texts’ references to gender diversity to advocate for the equality and nondiscrimination of LGBT+ persons. In 2007, LGBT+ advocates used this strategy to successfully petition against the Government in a landmark Supreme Court case, Sunil Babu Pant and Others v. Government of Nepal and Others, 40 calling upon the Government to recognize a third gender category. 57. The Special Rapporteur also draws attention to recent initiatives at the United Nations that engage religious or belief actors in the promotion of gender equality. The Faith for Rights initiative, led by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, launched in January 2020 a peer-to-peer learning toolkit for faith actors to assist in revisiting religious interpretations that perpetuate gender inequality and harmful stereotypes or condone gender-based violence.41 The Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence That Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes, developed by the Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, recognizes the need to prevent incitement to gender-based violence and to support religious leaders in changing discriminatory social norms and ideas relating to women, girls and sexual minorities. 42 58. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur notes that, in order for the initiatives described above to be carried out successfully, States need to create and ensure the conditions in which all individuals can exercise the right to freedom of expression free from fear of harassment and 40 41 42 Writ No. 917, Decision, 21 December 2007. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/FreedomReligion/Pages/FaithForRights.aspx. See www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/publications-andresources/Plan_of_Action_Religious-rev5.pdf. 13