A/HRC/40/53/Add.1 protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people against all forms of stigmatization, violence and discrimination. 94. The Government of Malaysia should: (a) Adopt effective measures to reverse increasing trends towards early, forced and child marriage; (b) Take concrete measures to prevent children from becoming stateless and guarantee universal access to free primary education, irrespective of citizenship and immigration status; (c) Amend the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 to prohibit unilateral conversion of a child by one parent. 3. Women’s equal cultural rights 95. The federal and state authorities should: (a) Encourage the promotion and substantive engagement of women judges in both the civil and syariah legal systems; (b) Ensure that women can participate equally in cultural and religious practices, including as leaders, and can contribute to policymaking and decisionmaking about and interpretation of those practices and policies; (c) Prohibit all forms of female genital mutilation and abrogate the fatwa on female genital mutilation issued by the Malaysian National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs in April 2009; (d) 4. Set a concrete timeframe for the adoption of the Gender Equality Act. The cultural rights of indigenous peoples 96. The federal and state authorities should: (a) Implement past recommendations from human rights bodies, including those of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM), and the steps that have been announced by the Government to tackle the issue of customary land recognition and land disputes. When defining land rights, consider the diverse ways that indigenous peoples use land and their customary practices in this area; (b) Improve the consultation and participation of the persons concerned in the customary land survey and ensure their free, prior and informed consent at each step; (c) Adopt measures to safeguard endangered indigenous languages and to foster their transmission to younger generations. 5. Freedom of artistic expression 97. The federal and state authorities should: (a) Remove the bans on Mak Yong, Wayang Kulit, Main Puteri and Dikir Barait in Kelantan, and on women performing in public. In consultation with a diversity of practitioners, take steps to redress the harm done to these art forms and their practitioners by these bans, including through compensation and the promotion of spaces for their performance and transmission; (b) Take measures to provide greater understanding and more informed explanation about the complex meaning of these practices and their social function and actively combat any stigma that has resulted from the bans; (c) Review critically all legislation and practices imposing restrictions on the right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity, taking into consideration relevant international human rights law provisions; 18

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