E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 58 Notes 1 The term “women” as used in the present study includes girls and adolescents. See report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 24 (“Women and health”) on article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (A/54/38/Rev.1, para. 8). 2 Article 1 of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief affirms the right of everyone to freedom of religion and paragraph 1 of that article states that this right includes “freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching”. 3 Cicero proposes an etymology of the term “religion” based on the verb “relegere”, i.e. carefully considering the world, and not “religare”, i.e. binding man to the deity. See De natura deorum, II, 72. 4 The main examples are found not only in Buddhism, in particular Theravada, where such belief is explicitly rejected, but also in Hinduism, which is characterized by the existence of many gods and goddesses and not a single supreme being, as well as in many mystic traditions which may or may not involve monotheistic beliefs. 5 Henri Bergson was right in affirming that we find in the past, and could find today, human societies with no science, art or philosophy; but there has never been a society without religion. See Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion, Paris, P.U.F., p. 105. 6 See Syed Hussein Alatas, “Problems of defining religion”, International Social Science Journal, vol. 29, No. 2, 1977, p. 214. 7 For example, forms of social leadership and mysticism surrounding prominent figures in politics or the arts (cinema, singing, etc.) and myths that have grown up in Argentina around the artist Gilda or Eva Perón. 8 Femmes et religions − Déesses ou servantes de Dieu? Paris, Gallimard, 1994, p. 110. See also L’état des religions dans le monde, Paris, La Découverte/Le Cerf, 1987, pp. 569 and 571 to 577. 9 See Australian High Court ruling cited in the report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.1, para. 12). 10 See United States Supreme Court ruling referred to in the report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1, para. 8). 11 A single example can illustrate the problem. In the Sudan, the official policy aimed at eliminating this practice is, according to the Government’s explanation, hampered by the fact that “one of the reasons why female genital mutilation continues is the people’s belief that female circumcision is an obligation under Islam”. Government policy has thus targeted religious leaders with a view to putting an end to this belief. See final report of the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices affecting the health of women and children (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/6, para. 72).