A/HRC/38/24 A. Combating harmful practices 15. Harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and honour-related killings are deeply rooted in social attitudes according to which women and girls are regarded as inferior to men and boys based on stereotyped roles. Harmful practices are also used to justify gender-based violence as a form of protection or control of women and children by men. 22 16. Experience shows that efforts to end harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation and child marriage, point to the influential role of religious and traditional leaders, who are dominantly men, in changing those attitudes and beliefs. 23 Case studies in Africa suggested that faith leaders could be a critical intermediary in distilling positive information, particularly for men. 24 In this regard, the African Union Campaign to End Child Marriage, held from 2014 to 2017, used traditional and religious leaders to prevent faith-based support for child marriage. Community awareness campaigns led by chiefs entailed thousands of public declarations to stop celebrating child marriage. 25 17. In their roles as family members (for example, as sons, husbands, fathers or grandfathers), men and boys were also identified as key potential agents for change.26 For example, fathers need to be engaged to help change their understanding of what it means to “love” a daughter and to encourage a shift in mindsets from “protecting her” to “empowering her”. Deconstructing the meaning of protection and linking it to human rights is crucial for families and communities to challenge the idea, for example, that marriage is to protect girls’ safety in contexts of insecurity and violence. B. Education and awareness-raising 18. Gender norms influence us all. As boys and girls we learn our gender roles from an early stage, internalizing these throughout childhood and adolescence, and by the time we transition into adulthood, these norms are deeply embedded. Gender norms may live from generation to generation, to be passed on through the parent-child relationship. They shape how we understand our own identities. They play an integral role in determining how we relate to others, including to people of a different sex than their own. 19. Helping to disrupt harmful gender norms is a key objective of human rights-based education. The crucial role of education in promoting equal gender relations and transforming discriminatory gender stereotypes was emphasized by many submissions and initiatives. 27 In particular, several submissions and initiatives recognized that comprehensive sexuality education for boys and girls was a key strategic intervention. 28 It was reported that, in several countries, misrepresentations of the purpose of educational 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, paras. 6–7. See https://promundoglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Engaging-Men-and-Boys-to-End-thePractice-of-Child-Marriage1.pdf. See also UNFPA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Joint Evaluation: UNFPAUNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Accelerating Change — 2008– 2012, Volume I (New York, 2013), box 23, p. 33. Available at https://www.unicef.org/evaluation/files/FGM-report_11_14_2013_Vol-I.pdf. See Transforming Masculinities in the submission by Georgetown University. See A/HRC/35/5, para. 34. See https://promundoglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Engaging-Men-and-Boys-to-End-thePractice-of-Child-Marriage1.pdf. E.g. submissions by Colombia, France, Honduras, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Uzbekistan. Submissions by Honduras and Mexico. 7