A/70/286 membership in a family or community. Moreover, the interests of parents and children are not necessarily identical, including in the area of freedom of religion or belief. There can be situations in which the rights of the child must be safeguarded also against his or her parents. One example is the infliction of harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation or child marriage, sometimes carried out in the name of culture, tradition or religion. When designing policies against harmful practices, States should bear in mind that such practices are usually contested between and within religious communities. Awareness of such internal diversity is important, to avoid stigmatizing overgeneralizations and muster support from within religious communities when combating harmful practices. A. Legal framework 15. When exploring the complex relationship between the rights of children and their parents in the area of freedom of religion or belief, all relevant international human rights instruments must be taken into account, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on Religion or Belief, as adopted in General Assembly resolution 36/55 (the 1981 Declaration), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The following observations start with an interpretation of the most recent comprehensive convention in this regard, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which in its article 14 enshrines the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, while also addressing the rights and duties of parents or legal guardians to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her freedom of religion or belief, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child. 1. The child as rights holder 16. The Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights the status of the child as a rights holder in the framework of human rights. That is not entirely new. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognized “the inherent dignity and … the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”, thus using a formulation that at least implicitly includes children. However, the Convention on the Rights of the Child renders that status explicit and draws out practical consequences with regard to the particular needs, interests, vulnerabilities and capabilities of the child. That is all the more important in view of attitudes, customs, norms and practices that are unfortunately still widespread, whereby children are treated as if they were the property of their parents, families or communities, without having rights in their own capacity. 17. The Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines a broad range of human rights to which every child is entitled. Article 14 must be interpreted in the broader context of corroborating the status of the child as a rights holder. Its first paragraph states that: “States parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” 18. Freedom of religion or belief has a wide scope of application. In its general comment No. 22 (1993) on freedom of thought conscience or religion, the Human Rights Committee stated that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights “protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the 15-12514 5/22