A/HRC/4/34 page 19 49. Instead, cultural practices that discriminate against women are frequently regarded as belonging to “others”, whether they live in developing countries or belong to local immigrant communities. This approach is often not void of inherent contradictions. While strongly denouncing practices as grave violations that tend to occur mostly abroad, such as female genital mutilation or “honour”-related violence, many States still fail to provide women facing such violations an escape by bringing their refugee laws into line with international standards on gender-related persecution.33 50. Embedded in the practice of “othering”34 is a trend towards redefining violence against women as an integration problem associated with immigrants from developing countries rather than a gender inequality problem. The consequences are twofold: immigrant women and men are further stigmatized and marginalized, which complicates their engagement in a constructive dialogue to address problems of gender inequality that indeed exist within their communities. At the same time, violence against native women is relegated from a social justice concern with a human rights dimension to a depoliticized “law and order” issue that may no longer be prioritized in comparison to other crimes. 3. Challenging and negotiating hegemonic cultural paradigms 51. Culture evolves as a response to different and competing individual and collective needs and aspirations, which makes culture diverse and dynamic. However, at any given time, certain interpretations of culture may be legitimized and imposed on a society or a community. The assertions of dominant interpretations of culture, in seemingly diverse sociocultural settings, are often similar to the extent that they (i) presuppose a static and homogenous set of values and norms that govern the lives of a collective entity; and (ii) reflect and reinforce hegemonic and patriarchal power relations. Such cultural discourses are at odds with universal cultural standards, in particular the legally binding human rights principle that no custom, tradition or religious consideration can be invoked to justify violence against women. 52. In order to successfully uphold universally agreed values, in particular the principle that no custom, tradition or religious consideration can be invoked to justify violence against women, it is necessary to address, and understand, the process of legitimization in the assertion of these types of discourses. This requires systematic engagement in a “cultural negotiation” whereby the positive cultural elements are emphasized, while the oppressive elements in culture-based discourses are demystified.35 33 The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has compiled principles and guidelines on protection against gender-related persecution. See UNHCR, Guidelines on International Protection No. 1: Gender-Related Persecution within the context of article 1A (2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (HRC/GIP/02/01) (2002). 34 Othering is a way of defining and securing one’s own positive identity in contrast with and through the stigmatization of an “other”. 35 See my report on the due diligence standard (E/CN.4/2006/61).