E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 42 strong resistance from parents, who still believe that they risk secret reprisals by traditional chiefs if they refuse to maintain the system through their expiatory offerings.236 2. Rape and sexual abuse 165. Rape is an extreme violation of women’s physical and mental integrity and dignity. The fact that certain customs allow the avoidance of appropriate penalties for such crimes makes them especially reprehensible. For example, by custom or statute in many countries with very different religious traditions, rape and sexual assault are simply unpunished if the offender marries his victim, whether or not she is a minor. Since marriage in all cases absolves the rapist of any wrongdoing, rape reduces the marriageable age of the victim.237 That applies to some communities in Mexico (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/11, para. 68), to Costa Rica, Lebanon, Peru and Uruguay238 and to the Republic of Korea (A/55/40, vol. I, para. 137). It is far from established that this tradition has any basis in religion. On the contrary, many religions can be interpreted as sanctioning free consent to marriage and sexual relations. However, the image of women in religion generally and their subordinate position may explain—albeit very indirectly—these practices, which are prejudicial to women’s status. Also, the caste system in some cultures encourages such practices. It is reported that in Kashmir, for example, women and girls of low caste, i.e. Dalits or untouchables, are sexually abused by persons belonging to the middle and upper castes.239 166. In other cases, rape appears to serve other ends constituting aggravated discrimination. In Bangladesh, for example, attempts to subjugate, or commit violations against, minorities often reportedly take the form of threats or assaults—in particular rape—on the honour of women, who represent the honour of the whole community (A/55/280/Add.2, para. 85). Generally speaking, in times of extremism or religious and/or ethnic conflict or identity crisis, whether or not of a genocidal nature, women and their integrity suffer attack first, with rape becoming a tool of ethnic cleansing.240 167. In many cultures, rape was long regarded as an assault on the private property of men and then on morality as determined by men. It was not until much later that rape was viewed as an assault on woman as individuals. This no doubt explains the difficulty of classifying rape by a husband as such since one of a woman’s religiously sanctioned conjugal duties is precisely to be available for sexual relations outside menstrual periods of unavailability. It is significant, if only from a language standpoint, that the term “unavailability” refers exclusively to sexual relations, which means that, outside such times, the man alone decides on his wife’s sexuality irrespective of her wishes. 168. Marital rape is still to some extent linked to patriarchal patterns and to a reactionary view of the image of women within the marital relationship. From that perspective, the deep-seated origins of such perception are, irrespective of a society’s stage of development, rooted in ancient religious practices fostered by a culture that relegates women to a subservient position. Some States do not recognize marital rape and treat women’s complaints against their husbands as void.241 Marital rape is a form of domestic violence or torture against women and should thus be dealt with accordingly. 169. Some paedophile practices are especially reprehensible and dangerous because they stem from self-styled religious movements, whether old or new. In this connection, mention should be