A/HRC/16/37 while undoing the violation, remained loyal to the social relations existing in that particular society. Changes that added to the existing arrangements stood a far better chance of being supported and carried out by the community than those that were enforced top-down. 50. Lastly, Mr. Zwart announced the creation of a network on traditional values and human rights, comprising academic institutions, civil society organizations and other stakeholders, with the aim of exploring the relationship between traditional values and human rights and suggesting ideas and concepts that could lead to cross-fertilization between them. 51. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo, offered an overview on how her mandate had addressed the issue of the intersections between traditional and cultural practices and violence against women. The mandate had produced two thematic reports dedicated to this issue, specifically on cultural practices in the family that are violent towards women and intersections between culture and violence against women, and had also addressed it in other reports and communications to Governments. 52. The Special Rapporteur stated that, despite the clear provisions in many human rights instruments, the persistence of practices justified in the name of culture, which violated women’s human rights and were contrary to human dignity, was the norm. Widespread impunity was explained by the fact that, in the past, neither the Governments concerned nor the international community challenged the implications of practices that violated the rights to health, life, dignity and personal integrity. These were sometimes regarded as sensitive cultural issues falling within the private sphere of women and the family and thus not the business of the State. 53. In order to counter and transform culture-based discourses that hindered the implementation of women’s human rights, it was necessary to (a) interrogate culture as historically constructed and representing diverse positions and interests; (b) apply a political-economy perspective to understanding cultural practices; and (c) approach all forms of violence against women as a continuum and intersectional with other forms of inequality. This required ensuring that diverse women’s voices within specific communities were heard, and that the claim for a right to a life free from all forms of violence was not sacrificed in the name of culture. 54. The mandate had documented a number of culturally derived forms of violence against women within the family. Such practices included early and forced marriages, son preference, honour killings, female genital mutilation and practices that violated women’s sexual and reproductive rights. It had also explored the linkages between certain harmful practices and the contraction and transmission of HIV/AIDS. 55. The mandate had distinguished between practices that amounted to torture from those that amounted to discrimination. Cultural practices that involved pain and suffering and violation of physical integrity could amount to torture under international law. With regard to discriminatory practices such as unequal family law systems, the mandate had advocated for a range of approaches adopted by different countries to respond to the diversity of contexts, which should ultimately aim at changes in attitude so that social transformation could be led by the community itself. 56. The Special Rapporteur’s next thematic report to be submitted to the Human Rights Council would be devoted to the topic of intersectional and multiple forms of discrimination in the context of violence against women. In the report, she would address, among others, the way in which oppressive practices towards women in the name of culture intersected with other forms of discrimination and contributed to the continuum of violence that women experienced. 12