A/HRC/43/48 26. The Special Rapporteur and other special procedure mandate holders have also expressed concern about the imposition of restrictive garments or “modest” dress codes by laws inspired by religious beliefs and the impact of such measures on the ability of women and girls to enjoy their human rights. In 2019, in a communication to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Special Rapporteur, along with other special procedure mandate holders, expressed concern about the Government’s compulsory veil legislation and the reported arrest, enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention of women’s human rights defenders who protested against it. 16 In that communication, special procedure mandate holders recalled a recent recommendation to the Government to reject any cultural or religious practice that violated human rights and the principle of equality or prevented the establishment of an egalitarian society free of gender-based discrimination. 27. In other instances, consultation participants noted that some States had opted to limit religious practices such as wearing headscarves or full-face veils in public – attire predominantly worn by Muslim women – in their efforts to combat gender-based discrimination, but without sufficient attention to the self-understanding and agency of women.17 Critics of such policies have noted the danger that such policies posed to the right to freedom of religion or belief, along with myriad other rights, noting that efforts to combat gender-based discrimination often failed to incorporate freedom of religion or belief and forced individuals to choose between their faith and national protections for human rights. 5. State restrictions on access to sexual and reproductive rights 28. The Special Rapporteur notes that, in a number of countries around the world, Governments continue to maintain partial or total bans on access to abortion, and religious figures have both encouraged those measures and advocated against efforts to reform the laws. At the consultations on Latin America, it was asserted that discriminatory religious edicts informed laws and policies that restricted sexual and reproductive rights in the region, including, but not limited to, partial or total bans on access to abortion and contraception, prohibitions on assisted reproductive technologies and gender reassignment surgery, and limits on the provision of evidence-based sexuality education. 29. It was noted that four States in the region enforced complete bans on abortion, in two States women and girls could be prosecuted for miscarrying their pregnancies, 18 and limitations in other countries had seriously limited women’s access to abortion in circumstances in which denying it caused serious suffering. Three quarters of abortions in the region are reportedly unsafe due to legal impediments to safe access, resulting in high rates of preventable maternal mortality in Argentina, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). 19 30. Consultation participants also reported that restrictive laws on access to abortion and contraception in sub-Saharan Africa were mostly inherited from pre-independence colonial laws, but were maintained, in part, owing to pressure from certain religious groups. Approximately 13.2 per cent of maternal deaths in the region can be attributed to unsafe abortion.20 31. Participants in the consultations on South and South-East Asia reported that, in the Philippines, the criminalization of abortion and a lack of access to contraception were often justified by reference to religious postulates. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also concluded that religion was the basis for sexual and reproductive health policies, including at the level of local government units, given that the Constitution required the State to “equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from [the time of] conception” (CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1). 16 17 18 19 20 See communication IRN 5/2019. See www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/VeilinEuropereport.pdf. See www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/abortion-latin-america-and-caribbean. Ibid. See www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/preventing-unsafe-abortion. 7