A/70/286 fixed age limits when identifying religious maturity in order to do justice to the personal religious maturation of each individual child; (e) As part of the positive interrelatedness of parental rights and the right of the child to freedom of religion or belief, States should generally respect religious initiation rites, in which the small child is introduced into the family and community, if initiated by parents and/or carried out with their consent; (f) State interventions into parental rights in the area of freedom of religion or belief, for example if deemed necessary to prevent harmful practices and to safeguard the best interests of the child, must always be enacted with empirical and normative diligence, always bearing in mind the prescribed criteria for limitations; (g) States should repeal unduly restrictive regulations, wherever they exist, in order to facilitate the participation or non-participation of children in religious community life, in accordance with their wishes or the wishes of the parents, depending on the maturity of the child; (h) When providing religious instruction in public schools, States should ensure low-threshold options for the child and his or her parents to get exemptions, with the purpose of preventing children from being exposed to religious instruction against their own will or that of their parents; (i) When providing information about religions and beliefs as part of the regular school curriculum and with a view to broadening the child’s knowledge, States should ensure that such information is of high quality, which should always be based on solid research and should furthermore do justice to the self-understanding of the followers of different religious communities, always taking into account internal diversity. The Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools can serve as a useful tool to ensure quality management in that area; (j) Religious instruction and/or information about religions, as given in schools or other educational settings, should always respect the evolving capacities of the child who, in the course of his or her maturation, should be able to assume a more active role in the exercise of his or her freedom of religion or belief; (k) States should reform unduly restrictive dress code regulations for students in schools in order to facilitate a school life in which students can experience free and voluntary manifestations of religious or belief-related diversity, as a normal aspect of living together in a modern society; (l) States should reform family laws which discriminate against parents or legal guardians belonging to religious minorities, or against parents who are converts, atheist or agnostics, with a view to upholding the best interests of the child and fully guaranteeing the right of the child to freedom of religion or belief without discrimination. Such reforms may also prove necessary in the interests of equality between men and women; (m) States should reform administrative practices which may lead to different religions being ascribed to converts and their children against their will. Such practices, apart from violating the freedom of religion or belief of 15-12514 21/22