A/HRC/43/48 37. At the consultations held in Tunisia, participants noted that faith-based groups had opposed legislative changes that would have decriminalized homosexuality and repealed discriminatory laws on the grounds that those changes would contradict religious teachings. LGBT+ rights defenders stressed that they faced harassment and threats of violence from religious actors in response to their activities. 38. The Special Rapporteur notes, however, that the role of religious groups in perpetuating norms that promote gender inequitable attitudes is complex because religious communities themselves are not monolithic. A multitude of voices exist within religious groups and institutions, including faith-based actors who campaign for the rights of women, girls and LGBT+ persons and work to promote gender equality within their faith. Advocates within religions, across multiple traditions, have long sought to challenge norms and expectations that undermine the human rights of women, girls and LGBT+ persons; many have expanded religious leadership and influencer roles for women and challenged interpretations of religious texts that are used to “justify” discrimination and other harmful practices against women, girls and LGBT+ persons. 39. Their work makes clear that religions are not necessarily the source of gender-based discrimination and violence, but that interpretations of those beliefs, which are not protected per se, and which are not necessarily held by all members of a religious community, are often the source of gender-based violence and discrimination. In fact, the present report emphasizes the fact that freedom of religion or belief can be an important tool to empower women and LGBT+ persons of faith in their struggles for equality, and that respect for the freedom of religion or belief of women and LGBT+ persons, as well as other human rights that underwrite this freedom, should be promoted and protected.24 1. Gender-based violence by non-State actors 40. Women, girls and LGBT+ persons endure myriad forms of violence perpetrated by non-State actors, which are often implicitly or explicitly sanctioned by influential religious laws and discourse (A/74/181, para. 27; and A/HRC/19/41, para. 21). The Special Rapporteur is alarmed by the persistence of harmful practices and the fact that those who engage in them “justify” such acts on the grounds that they are permitted or required by religious beliefs, including female genital mutilation, dowry killings, rape, polygyny, early and forced marriage, beatings, coercive gender reassignment surgery and so-called “honour” crimes. 25 Governments have an obligation to prohibit such practices in law and to ensure that perpetrators of gender-based violence, including violence perpetrated by individuals claiming a religious “justification” for their actions, are held accountable and their victims provided with redress. For example, participants in the consultations in Tunisia identified practices that are directly or indirectly rooted in religion and often defended by reference to religion, including forced virginity tests, child and forced marriage, “honour” killings, domestic violence and female genital mutilation. 41. Various human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture, have also noted with concern that deadly attacks on LGBT+ persons were taking place in States where laws adopted with reference to religion had criminalized same-sex sexual conduct, and religious leaders were actively engaged in hate speech against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation (see, for example, CAT/C/RUS/CO/6, paras. 32–33; and E/C.12/UGA/CO/1). The Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Minorities notes that, in the United States alone, some 698,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or gender non-conforming persons have received “conversion” therapy at some point in their lives, and over half of them reportedly when they were adolescents (A/HRC/38/43, para. 47). The Special Rapporteur is similarly alarmed by ongoing reports of the failure of State authorities to effectively investigate incidents of such violence or to hold perpetrators accountable. 24 25 See www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/WomenandReligiousFreedom.pdf. See for example, joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices. 9