Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

– Discriminatory customary laws and norms persist in spite <strong>of</strong> being contrary to legal and
international human rights standards. Their predominance also makes it difficult for women
to access avenues for redress.
The corresponding key recommendation was for States to remove all conflicts within laws and between
laws and customary practices, and also to modify cultural practices 23 that perpetuate discrimination
and violations <strong>of</strong> women’s rights to adequate housing and land.
23
Article 5 (a) <strong>of</strong> CEDAW articulates this obligation as: “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to
modify <strong>the</strong> social and cultural patterns <strong>of</strong> conduct <strong>of</strong> men and women, with a view to achieving <strong>the</strong>
elimination <strong>of</strong> prejudices and customary and all o<strong>the</strong>r practices which are based on <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> inferiority
or <strong>the</strong> superiority <strong>of</strong> ei<strong>the</strong>r <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 55