E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 19 sometimes of countries belonging to the same religious area. This shows that culture, religion and freedom of religion or belief are highly relative concepts whereas respect for life, dignity, integrity and non-discrimination, in short, fundamental rights of women, are invariants that can bring individuals together and unite them notwithstanding their differences. (b) Contribution of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 65. The issue of women’s status in the light of religion and traditions has been addressed within the United Nations from the perspective of traditional practices detrimental to the health of women and girls and from the perspective of the extension of the concept of violence against women. 66. Regarding the first perspective, the issue of female genital mutilation has often been targeted specifically or even exclusively.64 It is a fact that many of these cultural practices based directly or indirectly on religion are of a medical nature and affect women’s fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, health and dignity. In 1954, the General Assembly adopted resolution 843 (IX) on the status of women in private law: customs, ancient laws and practices affecting the human dignity of women. The Economic and Social Council, following a recommendation by the Commission on the Status of Women, adopted a resolution on the same lines (445 C (XIV)), which is aimed at the progressive abolition of customs which violate the “physical integrity of women, and which thereby violate the dignity and worth of the human person, as proclaimed in the Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. The issue has received more sustained attention since the 1980s both at the global level—joint action by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)—and at the regional level. Violence against women is not immediately covered by the subject of the present study; it is the extension of such violence that enables it to be considered from the viewpoint of practices that are harmful to the health of women and children and based on or imputed to religion. 67. As the Committee established under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW is concerned with traditional or customary practices affecting women and children, although States’ reports to it appear to contain only very little information in this connection.65 It was only from 1990 that the Committee adopted several general recommendations, such as No. 14, on female excision, and No. 19, on violence against women, encompassing, in particular, forced marriage, dowry deaths, female genital mutilation and preference for male children. In its general recommendation No. 21 on equality in marriage and family relations, CEDAW considers that early marriage can have detrimental effects on the health of women and girls. In its general recommendation No. 24 (entitled “Women and health”) on article 12 of the Convention, the Committee notes that some cultural or traditional practices such as genital mutilation can have adverse consequences for women’s health and even prove fatal. 68. According to one study, the common denominator among all traditional practices harmful to the health of women and children is violence. The 1979 Convention does not explicitly address the issue of violence against women, including when it is the result of practices based on or imputed to religion. Nor do CEDAW’s earlier general recommendations deal with violence arising from customary or religious practices.66