A/73/305 41. Among ethno-nationalist populists, rhetoric about preserving the “pure, authentic people” is often closely linked to sexual and reproductive rights. Feminism, which at its core is about realizing women’s right to equality, is also portrayed as antithetical to the nation. For example, a 2010 presidential candidate for the Freedom Party of Austria supported by the far right publicly criticized feminism and efforts to promote gender mainstreaming, and argued that the legal definition of marriage presumed the intention to produce and raise children. 64 In the United States, abortion and even contraception have been portrayed as a threat to traditional, white patriarchal conceptions of the family. Female candidates affiliated with the Tea Party movement, among them Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, went so far as to argue that abortion should be outlawed, even in cases of rape. 65 Also in the United States, the nationalist populist President has promoted misogyny by repeatedly making statements publicly demeaning women. Beyond attacks against purely women’s rights, in some countries, nationalist populists have advocated constitutional amendments aimed at an exclusively heterosexual definition of marriage in order to prevent same -sex couples from marrying. 66 42. Minority women have been especially vulnerable to right-wing ethnonationalist populism. For example, in much of the political debate across Western Europe, the veiled Muslim woman is deployed as the symbol of the “other” who does not belong. 67 The imagery of the veiled Muslim woman is also used to argue that misogyny is inherent in Islam. Countries that prohibit persons from wearing an Islamic veil in public effectively exclude many Muslim women from public spaces, and courts in some places have been swift to respond to this issue. For example, in the summer o f 2016, about 30 municipalities, located mainly in southern France, issued decrees prohibiting the wearing of the Islamic swimsuit on the basis that it constituted a religious sign, in breach of the principle of secularism, and did not conform to hygiene and safety rules for those bathing in the sea. 68 The highest administrative court of France ordered the suspension of the execution of those municipal decrees, on the basis that they constituted an unjustified, serious breach of the fundamental rights to freedom of movement, personal freedom and freedom of conscience. 43. In other parts of the world, nationalist populist mobilizations have limited the access of minority women to sexual and reproductive health through administrative and financial barriers. Some countries have more explicitly discriminatory policies in place. For many years, the Government of Myanmar subjected Rohingya women to a strict two-child policy, and those found “to have violated restrictions on childbirth were prosecuted under Criminal Law section 188, which could result in imprisonment for up to 10 years, fines or both”. 69 Fear of repercussions from authorities for unauthorized childbirth and the lack of access to safe, modern birth control options to prevent unwanted pregnancies had often led pregnant Rohingya women to either flee the country or resort to illegal and unsafe abortions. 70 __________________ 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 18-12945 Wodak, The Politics of Fear, pp. 13–14. Ibid, pp. 16–17. Human Rights House Zagreb submission. See Wodak, The Politics of Fear. OHCHR, “Press briefing notes on France and Bolivia”, 30 August 2016. Human Rights Watch, “Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women regarding Myanmar’s exceptional report on the situation of women and girls from northern Rakhine State”, May 2018, p. 7. Ibid., p. 8. 15/22