A/70/286 or new religious movements often run an increased risk of having their rights infringed. In extreme cases, parents have lost their custody rights without any serious empirical investigation having taken place and witho ut being granted effective legal remedies. Besides empirical negligence, there is also the danger of normative negligence if due weight is not given to all the human rights concerns at stake and the criteria set out for limitations are ignored. For instanc e, cases of religious conversion of one parent have led to him or her being deprived of custody rights, often against the explicit will of the parents and the child, and sometimes as a consequence of a forced divorce being required by the State in the wake of one parent’s conversion. 2. Ensuring non-discriminatory family laws and settlement of family-related conflicts 63. According to article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the child has the right to be cared for by his or her parents. That must also guide the handling of family crises, such as a divorce. In such situations, the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration (article 3); the child, once able to express his or her views, must have a chance to be heard in judicial or other official hearings (article 12, paragraph 2); and if separation from a parent proves necessary, the child is generally entitled to maintain personal relations with both parents (article 9, paragraph 3). 64. In cases in which the two parents follow different religions or beliefs, such a difference cannot in itself serve as an argument for treating parents differently, for instance in decisions on custody rights in divorce settlements. Discrimination against parents on the grounds of their religion or belief may simultaneously amount to a serious violation of the rights of the child in their care. That also applies to members of religious minorities, new religious movements, atheists, agnostics or converts. 65. In quite a number of countries, that issue is a source of major human rights concern, since family laws reflect traditional religious or ideological hegemonies, thus leading to systematic discrimination based on religion or belief, often in conjunction with gender-based discrimination (see A/HRC/25/58/Add.2, paras. 28-37). In some legal systems people from certain religious or belief backgrounds are even prevented from entering a legally recognized marriage, which may result in children being treated as “illegal”. Family law reforms with the purpose of eliminating such discrimination based on religion or belief must be a priority. Judges dealing with family laws should receive training based on all relevant human rights instruments. 66. When a child is given into foster care, adoption or kafalah (an institution of Islamic law), the child’s freedom of religion or belief must always be respected. According to article 20, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in such situations “due regard shall be paid to the desirability of continuity in the child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background”. 3. Combating harmful practices 67. A much-discussed issue concerns harmful practices, which are sometimes invoked in the name of cultural or religious traditions. Many of those practices particularly affect girls. In 2014, the Committee on the Elimination of 15-12514 17/22