A/HRC/4/23 page 14 owing to harmful patriarchal, traditional, customary and/or religious practices, they cannot fully exercise their human rights to marry or refuse marriage; to full sexual autonomy; to refuse childbearing; to leave partners, including abusive partners, while retaining custody of their children, and to do so safely and without legal, economic, social, political and cultural repercussions. 39. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of children to health and to be protected from all forms of physical and mental violence, including sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, harmful traditional practices, abduction, sale and trafficking for all forms of exploitation. Moreover, child marriages of girls also have a serious impact on their Convention right to education. Child marriage almost always brings an abrupt halt to the girl’s education. Researchers conclude that “girls who marry young are more likely to be illiterate and to have no experience of formal education”.13 40. Many countries, including Afghanistan, Estonia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Moldova, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, still have national marriage legislation whereby one (generally the female) or both parties may be married before reaching 18 years of age, with parental/guardian consent, or with the consent of a public authority after suitability for marriage has been determined. 41. Another consequence of forced marriage in the context of trafficking in persons is that victims of forced marriages may also become victims of “honour crimes”. Although both women and men can be the victims of forced marriage, the honour of a family is tied primarily to the status of the woman, leaving her much more vulnerable to persuasion and coercion into a union to which she objects.14 Many NGOs that work specifically to prevent and combat crimes of “honour” against women and girls, such as the Lilith Project of Eaves Housing for Women (United Kingdom), note that there are links between forced marriages and violence committed against women in the name of “honour”. So-called “honour crimes”, an ancient practice sanctioned by culture rather than religion, are rooted in a complex code that allows a man to kill or abuse a female relative or partner for suspected or actual “immoral behaviour”.15 According to the response of the Government of the Philippines, the most common form of forced marriage takes place mainly in the provinces when a man impregnates or has sexual relations with a woman and her family forces the man to marry her to protect the dignity, honour and reputation of the woman and the family in the community. 13 See note 3 above, p. 31. 14 Abdullahi An-Na’im, “Forced Marriage”, 2000, available online at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/honourcrimes/FMpaperAnNa’im.pdf 15 Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, “So-called ‘honour crimes’”, doc. 9720, 7 March 2003, available at: http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc03/EDOC9720.htm.