A/HRC/4/34 page 20 53. Contrary to what some may claim or fear, such an engagement with culture does not erode or deform local culture but rather challenges its discriminatory and oppressive aspects. This of course may provoke resistance from those who have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. Negotiating culture with human rights concerns inherently questions, delegitimates, destabilizes, ruptures and, in the long run, destroys oppressive hierarchies. It also contributes to harnessing the positive elements of local culture to advance human rights and gender equality, a process that also revalidates the culture itself. In many places, women’s rights activists have successfully mobilized artistic and symbolic expressions of culture. For example, in the north of Mexico, which has seen extreme levels of violence against women,36 local women’s movements have used the language of human rights discourses incorporated with symbolic actions that have countered the culture of impunity and violence against women. The cultural sphere thereby “became increasingly important for integrating emotive with cognitive understandings about the atrocities taking place, as well as for working through the deeper social and psychic trauma resulting from the violence, especially for the bereaved families of the disappeared and murdered women.”37 54. Another international example is the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence Campaign that was started in 1991. Spanning the period from 25 November, International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, it emphasizes the need for the recognition of violence against women as an international human rights issue. The 16 Days Campaign has become a cultural event symbolizing women’s resistance to gender inequality. This activism draws on local culture to raise awareness while strengthening solidarity at a global level. For example, this year in France, a large group of women dressed up as “Marianne” with made-up bruised faces. Marianne is the symbol of French liberation and pride, embodying freedom, equality and dignity. With this act, French women demonstrated the disparity between persistent gender discrimination and the symbolic representation of women’s place in French society. They received widespread media coverage and generated a response from the major presidential candidates, both of whom promised to tackle the issue once elected president. 55. Cultural discourses can also complement and reinforce the human rights discourse. On 25 November 2006, for instance, a group of distinguished Islamic scholars assembled at Al-Azahr University in Cairo issued a set of recommendations recognizing that female genital mutilation “is a deplorable, inherited custom, which is practiced in some societies and is copied by some Muslims in several countries”.38 They concluded that “there are no written grounds for this custom in the Qur’an with regard to an authentic tradition of the Prophet” and acknowledged that “female genital circumcision practiced today harms women psychologically and physically” and should be “seen as a punishable aggression against humankind”. They demanded that “the 36 See in this regard the report on my mission to Mexico (E/CN.4/2006/61/Add. 4). 37 L.R. Linda Fregoso, “We Want Them Alive!: The Politics and Culture of Human Rights.” Social Identities, vol. 12, No. 2, (2006), pp. 109-138. 38 Available at: http://www.target-human-rights.com/HP-00_aktuelles/alAzharKonferenz/ index.php?p=beschluss&lang=en.