A/70/286 Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child addressed the problem in a joint general recommendation/general comment. The two Committees listed “female genital mutilation, child and/or forced marriage, polygamy, crimes committed in the name of so-called honour and dowry-related violence” among “the most prevalent and well documented” harmful practices “grounded in discrimination based on sex, gender, age and other grounds”. 13 A more comprehensive list also includes neglect of girls, extreme dietary restrictions, virginity testing, binding, scarring, branding/tribal marks, corporal punishment, stoning, violent initiation rites, widowhood practices, witchcraft, infanticide, ince st, breast ironing or pressure to be fashionably thin. 68. The Special Rapporteur fully subscribes to the recommendation formulated by the two Committees that “the obligation to protect requires States parties to establish legal structures to ensure that harmful practices are promptly, impartially and independently investigated, that there is effective law enforcement and that effective remedies are provided to those who have been harmed by such practices”.13 He shares the observation “that prevention can be best achieved through a human rights-based approach to changing social and cultural norms, empowering women and girls, building the capacity of all relevant professionals who are in regular contact with victims, potential victims and perpetrators of harmful practices at all levels, and raising awareness of the causes and consequences of harmful practices, including through dialogue with relevant stakeholders”.13 69. Whether harmful practices, or some of them, are based on religious grounds usually remains contested between and within various religious communities. It is important to be aware of such inter- and intrareligious diversity and contestation, when designing appropriate counter-strategies, in order to avoid false generalizations and mobilize support from religious communities, or parts of communities, in the fight against harmful practices. Community leaders have a particular responsibility to clarify that harmful practices, wherever they exist, must be abandoned. In that context, the Special Rapporteur’s predecessor publicly welcomed statements clarifying religious views on female genital mutilation and the recommendations of the international conference of scholars concerning a ban on abuse of the female body, held at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, in 2006 (see A/HRC/4/21, para. 38, footnote). 70. Moreover, whatever their reasons may be, harmful practices can never be justified as legitimate manifestations of freedom of religion or belief. Being part of the broader human rights framework, freedom of religion or belief can never become a pretext for legitimizing cruel practices and violations of human rights. If necessary, the limitation clauses, as laid down in article 18, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 14, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must be applied. As already emphasized, they must always be applied with empirical and normative diligence and those affected by limitations must have access to effective legal remedies when claiming that their human rights have been violated. __________________ 13 18/22 Joint general recommendation/general comment No. 31 (2014) of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices. 15-12514