A/HRC/17/40 badis are viewed as a prostitution caste.57 Many Dalit women and girls, including badis, are trafficked into sex work. In Pakistan, it is reported that rape of female bonded labourers is one of the most pressing problems facing the movement to end debt bondage. 58 In Mauritania, women referred to as “slaves” are often forced to remain with their “masters” as they are threatened with separation from their children if they escape.59 Intermarriage 39. Discrimination based on caste and analogous systems of inherited status permeates all aspects of life, including marriage. Seen as a method of “status advancement” for some in the lower castes, intermarriage is a way to dispel the stereotypes and persistent artificial divisions between castes. However, this practice is condemned and socially discouraged (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/16, para. 8) in a number of countries including India, Japan, Senegal, Sri Lanka and among members of the South Asian diaspora (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/31, para. 37). Intermarriage can lead to violent reprisals from the families. Religious conversion 40. Religious conversion is viewed as a way of escaping this kind of discrimination. However, in certain countries it permeates religious communities. Despite constitutional provisions and legal measures to protect the rights of members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, de facto segregation and discrimination persist. 41. In some countries, members of discriminated castes who convert to other religions lose out on the basic safeguards provided to them in policies of affirmative action, while the previous caste status and related social bias remains at the social level. Such is the case in India. Unlike converts who become Buddhists or Sikhs (CERD/C/IND/CO/19, p. 21), Dalits who convert to Islam or to Christianity reportedly lose their entitlement under affirmative action programmes (A/HRC/10/8/Add.3, para. 28), including the system of reservation (a quota system of posts reserved in employment in Government, public sector units, and all public and private educational institutions). B. Good practices and contemporary challenges 1. International Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 42. The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights invested efforts to address discrimination based on work and descent. Four substantive reports60 and a draft set of principles and guidelines for the elimination of discrimination based on work and descent were considered by this body. These draft principles61 have been cited and referred to, on various occasions, by treaty bodies, special procedures, civil society and national human rights institutions. 57 58 59 60 61 Ibid. See also E/C.12/NPL/CO/2, para. 15. Human Rights Watch, “Caste discrimination” (note 52), p. 21. Ibid., pp. 21-22. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2001/16; E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/24; E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/31; E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/30. Available from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/11session/CRP/A-HRC-11CRP3.pdf. 13