A/HRC/10/8 page 11 conversion, she has sent numerous communications pertaining to sanctions imposed following acts of conversion away from the religion of the majority in a given country. She has also addressed the issue of forced conversion, which often targeted women and children abducted and then compelled to convert to another religion. 24. Although recurrent issues are identified through information received and related communications, the Special Rapporteur recalls that the communications sent to the Governments only give a general picture and that the mandate receives many more allegations than are eventually transmitted. In addition, there may be further allegations that have not been brought to the Special Rapporteur’s attention. Consequently, she stresses that the mandate’s communications report is only an indication of the forms of violation of freedom of religion or belief which cannot be regarded as exhaustive. D. Application of a gender perspective 25. Since 1996, the Commission on Human Rights and the Human Rights Council have persistently stressed in their resolutions the need to continue to apply a gender perspective, inter alia, through the identification of gender-specific abuses, in the reporting process, including in information collection and in recommendations. In doing so, they have constantly reaffirmed the need for the Special Rapporteur to highlight situations and address cases pertaining to discrimination against women based on religion or belief. 26. In 2002, the previous mandate-holder submitted a comprehensive study on freedom of religion or belief and the status of women from the viewpoint of religion and traditions (E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2), in which he noted that many forms of discrimination against women were based on or attributed to religion, tolerated by the State and in some cases enshrined in legislation. At the heart of this problem lies the fact that discriminatory and harmful practices against women, such as female genital mutilation, polygamy, discrimination related to inheritance, sacred prostitution, general preference to have boys, are often perpetrated by individuals or communities who perceive them as a religious obligation or as being part of their freedom to manifest their religion or belief. However, the previous mandate-holder argued that religions have not invented discriminatory and harmful practices against women; rather, these practices are mainly attributable to a cultural interpretation of religious precepts. The concepts of culture and religion are, however, inextricably linked; it is therefore difficult to dissociate religion from culture or customs and traditions, since religion is itself a tradition. Nonetheless, he concluded that an important number of these discriminatory practices have decreased over time. This is mainly due to a wilful strategy of the State to tackle the root causes by modifying certain cultural schemes through reforms pertaining to, inter alia, all aspects of social and family life. The previous mandate-holder emphasized that, while certain traditional practices have ancestral origins, the Government nevertheless remains responsible to protect women from discriminatory practices perpetrated by individuals or communities on its territory. 27. The responsibility to protect women from discriminatory practices based on, or attributed to, religion has also been addressed by the current mandate-holder since 2004. At the very outset, the Special Rapporteur re-emphasized that freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental human