A/77/514 public as "deviant bodies."126 They are often targeted with discrimination, hostility, and violence from State and non-State actors because of their visible, empowered choices regarding religious dress, whether in wearing traditional attire (such as mujeres de pollera in Bolivia)127 or refusing to wear gendered clothing based on interpretations of another religion.128 In Algeria, indigenous women have felt pressure to remove traditional tattoos (symbolizing fertility) with acid to avoid negative attention, as the majority Muslim community considers them "haram" (forbidden). In a verdict later overturned, Sudan convicted Christian Nuba women with "indecent dressing" under the 1991 Criminal Act for wearing skirts and trousers.129 52. Several States130 legitimately restrict harmful practices perpetuated in the name of indigenous culture and spirituality that violate the rights of members of indigenous communities.131 Restrictions have applied to such practices promoting banishment, trafficking, beatings, child marriage, SGBV, mutilation and amputation, torture, and murder, including persons with albinism.132 Some persons also invoke their interpretations of indigenous beliefs to justify discrimination, violence, and hostility against indigenous of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual plus (“LGBT+”) persons.133 In several regions, indigenous women call for alternative "rites of passages" to female genital mutilation.134 Interlocutors further report that indigenous girls are forcibly married and raped in Thailand. In a practice known as "beading," indigenous girls in Kenya—sometimes as young as nine—are coerced into sexual relations with men of "warrior" age in exchange for beads and other goods.135 It is essential to delink hostility, violence, and discrimination emanating from external sources and attitudes within indigenous belief systems.136 As interlocutors repeatedly emphasized, indigenous peoples are not inherently violent, and the causes of violence are multifaceted: poverty, displacement, conflict, and structural disenfranchisement. 53. Some indigenous women feel compelled to make a supposedly binary choice between "culture or rights," namely advancing communities' culture or enforcing their human rights.137 This false dichotomy can "further entrench[...] vulnerability of indigenous women to abuse and violence."138 The Special Rapporteur recalls that the universal right to equality is unqualified. States must protect the freedom of religion or belief of indigenous peoples while ensuring that religion or belief systems are not invoked to justify violence and discrimination, including barriers to indigenous women's sexual and reproductive healthcare and services.139 Where permissible under international law, indigenous women must decide whether a specific cultural practice violates their rights.140 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 https://cjc.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.22230/cjc.2006v31n4a1825,(p.899). https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2019/321.asp https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--gender/documents/publication/wcms_173293.pdf. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2015/08/young-woman-risks-20-lashes-indecent-dressingun-experts-urge-sudan-overturn; https://www.amnesty.org.uk/sudan-court-overturns-convictionteenager-sentenced-indecent-dress A/HRC/24/57,(paras.22,50-51). CEDAW/C/GC/31/REV.1 - CRC/C/GC/18/Rev.1. A/HRC/24/57,(paras.19-32); A/HRC/30/41,paras.(28,44,47,54-57). A/HRC/30/41,(para.57). E.g. https://www.unfpa.org/news/silent-epidemic-fight-end-female-genital-mutilation-colombia. https://www.iwgia.org/images/publications/0607_SEEDO_research_report.pdf,(p.4); https://www.iwgia.org/images/publications/0752_ST_GirlChild_beading_Research_in_Laikipia_Samburu_and_Marsabit_Counties.pdf. A/HRC/30/41,(para.59). http://www.jstor.org/stable/41345477,(pp.231-238); A/36/40,(pp.166-174). A/HRC/30/41,(para.13). A/HRC/43/48. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/730068. 15