A/72/155 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur called for contributions to the present report and is gratified to have received 54 submissions, from States, academics, national human rights institutions and civil society in many regions. 1 Those inputs enriched her work. 2. Experts report that fundamentalism and extremism, in diverse forms and in all regions, are among the leading threats to women’s human rights, including cultural rights, in today’s world. 2 They combine with other factors, such as broader notions of patriarchy and negative aspects of dominant economic models, in a dangerous alchemy that erodes women’s rights. Fundamentalist and extremist ideologies and the movements and governments that espouse them seek to roll back the advances achieved in securing women’s equality, aim to block further advances and try to penalize and stigmatize the women human rights defenders promoting such critical efforts. Recognition of this reality is part of what led unprecedented numbers of women, estimated at 2.6 million people in 674 marches, to take to the streets around the world on 21 January 2017. 3 As noted in a joint statement by United Nations human rights experts, in June 2017: Women’s rights are facing an alarming backlash in many parts of the world […] We need more than ever to protect the fundamental principle that all rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated[…] Despite this unbreakable principle, upheld in the 1993 Vienna Declaration on human rights, we are witnessing efforts by fundamentalist groups to undermine the foundation on which the whole human rights system is based. Some of these efforts are based on a misuse of culture, including religion and tradition[…] 4 3. All such anti-rights trends, whether on the part of States or non -State actors, at the international or national levels, must be met with a vigorous international human rights-based challenge, which must centre women’s human rights, including cultural rights. However difficult or controversial, the need for tackling these issues is urgent. There is no way to achieve gender equality by 2030, as committed to in the Sustainable Development Goals, without addressing the human rights, including cultural rights, impact of fundamentalism and extremism. 4. The present report employs the term “fundamentalism” for actors using a putatively religious discourse and “extremism” for movements with other bases. It highlights the analysis of experts and civil society actors, in particular women human rights defenders, who have confronted those problems for decades, so as to ensure their words are heard in the United Nations. The report expands on the issues __________________ 1 2 3 4 17-12043 Country situations mentioned herein include cases that have been the subject of pr evious consideration by United Nations mechanisms and officials, reports from States, multilateral institutions and civil society organizations. The present report also draws from “Unless someone hears us”, a memorandum on fundamentalist and extremist violence against women and the grave threat to women’s human rights around the world (United Nations team at the School of Law, University of California, Davis). See, for example, Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin, The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis (Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Manchester University Press, 2000), and Association for Women ’s Rights in Development, “New insights on religious fundamentalisms: research highlights”, 2009. The latter survey of women’s rights activists from 160 countries found that 8 out of 10 had experienced the negative impact of diverse “religious fundamentalisms” on women’s human rights. Heidi M. Przybyla and Fredreka Schouten, “At 2.6 million, Women’s Marches crush expectations”, USA Today, 22 January 2017. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “UN experts call for resistance as battle for women’s rights intensifies”, 28 June 2017. 3/23