A/HRC/4/34 page 23 Following the relentless campaigning of a coalition of various organizations, including the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, this initiative was finally blocked by the Ontario legislature. 62. The third myth is that culture is apolitical and detached from the prevailing power relations as well as the economic and social circumstances it operates in. Cultural explanations used to defend practices that are harmful to women often provide a convenient veil to disguise the various interests fostered by the practice. The Italian Penal Code (The Rocco Code of 1931), repealed in 1981, provides insight to this point. Article 587 of the Rocco Code distinguished killing or injuring for the cause of honour as a separate crime and provided for reduced sentence in cases of adultery. Analysts have explained the existence of article 587 by the strict gender discriminatory norms to support the demographic policies of the fascist period, which promoted women’s reproductive roles and high fertility rates. “Article 587 effectively gave a ‘licence to kill’ to the heads of families whose ‘honour’ had allegedly been tarnished.”43 Another example brings to light yet another aspect of the problem. In media reports on trafficking of girls and women from indigenous communities in the Highland region between Myanmar and Thailand, myths of local indigenous cultures, in which families supposedly sell their daughters for profit willingly and without compassion, are often propagated.44 Yet, the profound structural vulnerabilities that expose women and girls from these communities to trafficking, including statelessness, ethnic targeting and violent repression of their indigenous identity, are not sufficiently acknowledged. 63. Armed conflict, occupation, the war against terror and militarist cultures often reinforce dominant cultural paradigms that discriminate against women.45 Sustenance of group boundaries, family honour and the maintenance of everyday life fall on the shoulder of women, for whom this 43 M.G. Bettiga-Boukervout “Crimes of honour in the Italian Penal Code.” In L. Welchman and S. Hossain (eds.), “Honour”: Crimes, Paradigms, and Violence against Women, (London: Zed Books, 2005), p. 235. 44 A.D. Feingold, “The Hell of Good Intentions: Some Preliminary Thoughts on Opium in the Political Ecology of the Trade in Girls and Women”. Ophidian Research Institute. (1997). Available at: http://www.phi-ngo.org/pubs/HellGoodIntentions.pdf. 45 See the report of my mission to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (E/CN.4/2005/72/Add.4) and also the report of the previous Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, on her missions to Colombia (E/CN.4/2002/83/Add.3), documenting that paramilitary groups had imposed strict codes of social conduct on women, upheld by the threat of rape and murder, and sought to reinforce conservative values and stereotypical gender roles. A recently published report by a coalition of Colombian NGOs which follows up on the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur concludes that these problems still exist and that the militarization reinforces violence against women. See VI Informe sobre violencia sociopolítica contra mujeres, jóvenes y niñas en Colombia 2002-2006, Bogotá; Mesa de trabajo “Mujer y conflicto armado”, pp. 15-17. See also: http://www.mujeryconflictoarmado.org.