CEDAW/C/GC/31-CRC/C/GC/18 80. In States parties with effective and enforced legislation against harmful practices, there is a risk that practising communities will go into hiding or go abroad to carry out the practices. States parties hosting practising communities should support awareness-raising campaigns regarding the harmful impact on the victims or those at risk, as well as the legal implications of the violation, while at the same time preventing discrimination and stigma against those communities. To this end, steps should be taken to facilitate the social integration of such communities. 81. The Committees recommend that the States parties to the Conventions: (a) Develop and adopt comprehensive awareness-raising programmes to challenge and change cultural and social attitudes, traditions and customs that underlie forms of behaviour that perpetuate harmful practices; (b) Ensure that awareness-raising programmes provide accurate information and clear and unified messages from trusted sources about the negative impact of harmful practices on women, children, in particular girls, their families and society at large. Such programmes should include social media, the Internet and community communication and dissemination tools; (c) Take all appropriate measures to ensure that stigma and discrimination are not perpetuated against the victims and/or practising immigrant or minority communities; (d) Ensure that awareness-raising programmes targeting State structures engage decision makers and all relevant programmatic staff and key professionals working within local and national government and government agencies; (e) Ensure that personnel of national human rights institutions are fully aware and sensitized to the human rights implications of harmful practices within the State party and that they receive support to promote the elimination of those practices; (f) Initiate public discussions to prevent and promote the elimination of harmful practices, by engaging all relevant stakeholders in the preparation and implementation of the measures, including local leaders, practitioners, grassroots organizations and religious communities. The activities should affirm the positive cultural principles of a community that are consistent with human rights and include information on experiences of successful elimination by formerly practising communities with similar backgrounds; (g) Build or reinforce effective partnerships with the mainstream media to support the implementation of awareness-raising programmes and promote public discussions and encourage the creation and observance of self-regulatory mechanisms that respect the privacy of individuals. D. Protective measures and responsive services 82. Women and children who are victims of harmful practices are in need of immediate support services, including medical, psychological and legal services. Emergency medical services may be the most urgent and obvious, given that some of the harmful practices covered herein involve the infliction of extreme physical violence and medical intervention may be necessary to treat severe harm or prevent 14-64765 21/24