I am very happy to announce that a new day has come for Greece and women’s human rights. We now have in Greece the #MeToo Movement.

A Greek Olympic sailing champion, Sofia Bekatorou, has accused a top sporting official in Greece of sexual abuse, the country’s first high-profile accusation of sexual assault and abuse of power since the #MeToo movement swept the world in recent years, bringing down powerful figures in the media, politics and sports worlds.

Claims by Sofia Bekatorou that she was sexually assaulted by the official 23 years ago, when she was 21, have prompted a wave of support and an unusually open debate in my country, where studies suggest sexual harassment is prevalent.

The first such study in Greece was undertaken by myself in Athens during 1988-1991 with a small group of people from the Greek League for Women Rights, where I was member of the Board.

The elaboration of the questionnaire was done with the help of Professor Alice Marangopoulos who was President of the League. The questionnaire was distributed in many working places in the private and public sphere. Trade unions that were active in these workplaces helped with its distribution.

The answers to the questionnaire were very interesting. We worked on them together with Professor Marangopoulos. We found for example that the division of the sexes within working places had a decisive impact on the frequency of such behaviors. Where the division of the two sexes in the workplace was equal from the point of view of numbers or where women were more numerous than men, the percent of women sexually harassed was lower than in workplaces where men were dominant from the point of view of numbers.

The results of the research were published in a book edited by myself, in the name of the Greek League for Women’s Rights, with the title “Work, trade unionism and gender equality”, Odysseas Publications, July 1988.

Sofia Bekatorou has participated in over hundreds of main class events including the 2004 summer Olympics sailing competition where she won the gold medal and the bronze four years later in Beijing. She said a senior official of the country’s sailing Federation sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in 1998.

Ms. Bekatorou on Wednesday sent a letter to World Sailing, the global governing body, signed by several Olympic sailing athletes and coaches, calling out a “wretched situation” in the Greek Federation and asking for global officials to appoint temporary management to schedule elections for a new board.

Ms. Bekatorou said fears of jeopardizing her Olympic dream had prevented her from speaking out about her abuse at the time.

I hope this helps other women to speak out if they have experienced sexual abuse, so that our society can be healthier and less afraid said the 43 years old Bekatorou.  Several other women from the field of sports and beyond have now also spoken out about alleged harassment and the Greek supreme court has urged prosecutors to make responding to such claims a priority.

What is fantastic is that Sofia has been very strongly supported by many people in Greece, by political parties, journalists, students, the President of the Republic, Ministers. Everybody has congratulated her for her courage so finally something is changing in my country and I am extremely happy.

Politicians across the spectrum have acknowledged the significance of the moment.

In a rare display of unity, the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his leftist predecessor, Alexis Tsipras, both voiced support for victims whose determination to speak out has elicited echoes of the #MeToo movement.

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Beijing +25

The Fourth World Conference on women in Beijing in 1995 took place at a moment of great global optimism, when a new world order of cooperation was emerging after the end of the cold war, the dismantling of apartheid and the emergence of new democracies. In this moment of optimism, the Beijing Platform for Action set in place a set of global commitments to gender equality, based on fundamental human rights with a clear statement about state responsibility in delivering on the commitments that were made.

25 years after the Beijing conference. We are in a world where no country has yet achieved gender equality. Moreover, while we have seen much progress in the intervening years, we are also seeing deep polarization of the gender equality Agenda in some contexts and challenges in many places to the ideas of equality, plurality and global solidarity. At the same time, 2020 will also be following heightened feminist advocacy and women’s activism that has profoundly challenged long held behaviors of male privilege. This feminist mobilization has been intersectional, intergenerational, and worldwide. We should support it and participate in it.

Celebrating Beijing+25 with an IAW Vlog project

Under these circumstances I thought how the IAW could commemorate Beijing+25. We could write a parallel report. N60 CSW / New York established a working group of which Soon Young was a member to draft guidance note based on a questionnaire for parallel report, to be elaborated by N60S.

N60S could draft a parallel report and submit to UN women, to post it on their website, if the national review in their country did not revolve civil society.

However, this process takes a long time, it needs knowledge, expertise and it is complicated.

I thought that the easiest way to do so would be to invite our members and friends to contribute to a Vlog project which would call on them to answer a number of questions on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in their countries in order to raise women’s voices at the global level, in particular concerning setbacks and challenges, as well as achievements in their countries during these 25 years and contributions by themselves or their organisations to these achievements.

The contributors to this video which lasts 45 minutes are 33, including me, from all over the world. All continents are represented. We have French speaking people, as well as their contributions were translated into English. We have also one man.

Link to the VLOG

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My name is Joanna Manganara and I am making this contribution as President of the International Alliance of Women (IAW). My organization  had a good experience with the work UN Women is doing in 2015, when we decided to hold an international meeting in Kuwait, hosted by our member organization in this country. They had decided to hold a regional Conference as well and invite women’s organizations from other countries of the region. We informed UN Women about this activity of ours and they introduced us to Mohammad Naciri, Regional Director of UN Women in the Arab States, with whom we collaborated for some time and who was very supportive of the process. Unfortunately, in April 2015 our member organization in Kuwait informed us that the situation in the region was getting worse, as the Gulf military alliance had started a military escalation phase. Under these circumstances, they said Kuwait was unsafe and risky and they proposed to us to cancel the meeting which we did. We hope that in the future we will be able to organize another meeting of IAW in the region.

UN Women has made outstanding contributions to open the doors of the UN for the feminist and women’s movement as official Secretariat of the Commission on the Status of Women as well as in its role as coordinator of the UN Interagency task force on gender equality. The IAW has noted its ever present support for the NGO Forum that convenes more than 8000 participants annually. The IAW has made statements during the CSW and counted on UN Women’s support to ensure that the NGO CSW/NY has an official role during CSW. As former chair of the NGO CSW/NY, Soon-Young Yoon, UN representative for the IAW, worked hand in hand with the civil society division to ensure that NGO voices were heard in the official proceedings.

While UN Women stands at the center of mobilizing governments and civil society, to keep the promises of the Beijing Platform for Action, 25 years later these promises remain unfulfilled. Currently, there is no country in the world that can claim to have achieved gender equality. Why is it so? Because the international environment is not conducive to the realization of human rights, in particular women’s human rights.

The world we are living is a world in turmoil. Years of austerity and market liberalization policies have had, as a result, the current backlash for women’s rights and gender equality. As a result, women continue to be discriminated against and their contributions undervalued. They experience multiple forms of violence at home, at work and in public space. Austerity policies have downloaded a lot of costs on women.

Moreover, new challenges not foreseen in 1995 that have curtailed human rights, in particular women’s human rights, have emerged and must be tackled. Challenges that range from climate change, to structural inequality, to the current refugee crisis, to the shrinking space for civil society.

The gender division of labor in the care economy has put women at the front and center of the global pandemic, very often in the most unprotected terms. Women and girls have been disproportionately affected in every sphere. Care work in the household is a huge constraint in other aspects of life.

As COVID-19 accelerates gender inequalities, it is more important than ever that UN Women and Women’s Organizations accelerate action for the realization of gender equality, which is not getting the attention it needs in our COVID-19 era.

Time has come to develop counter strategies from a feminist perspective. We need new concepts to bring into the heart of the understanding of the economy. Care economy is one such concept, reproductive economy is another one. We should consider both as integral parts of the economy.

We need a genuine transformation of the global order that cannot happen, unless we acknowledge and support the collective burden of reproductive labor and care work. Only by doing so we can have a post COVID-19 recovery and response that is robust. We should therefore all work for a feminist economic model, which is not solely based on economic growth, which reproduces gender inequalities, but one that prioritizes people over profits.

After examining the challenges in the international environment, we have to examine whether UN CSW delivers progress for women and girls and whether it is a positive force for women’s rights. The active participation of NGO’S is a critical element of the work of CSW. Yet the CSW does not institutionalize consultations with NGO’S before and during the session of CSW. The state centric process followed by CSW best represents state representatives of women and limits NGO’S  to the Forum rather than giving them voice to deliberate as equals at official proceedings that is have a representation of civil society during negotiations.

We need to convince UN member states for the value of the input and constructive criticisms of civil society.

WHAT IS IAW

International Alliance of Women is one of the oldest feminist organizations in the world. It was founded in Berlin in 1904 and is now the umbrella for about 55 national organizations and about 350 individual members in most regions of the world. IAW has consultative status with ECOSOC since 1947, participatory status at the Council of Europe and is a member of the European Women’s Lobby.

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Women’s human rights and ICT

We have entered into a digital age, an age where human rights are still violated and need to be reasserted. New technology helps us to implement actions to promote human rights, but at the same time it brings new challenges, raises new ethical questions and violates human rights. Not everyone has access to new technology and often new technology is male dominated. It is designed by men for men.

In this paper, I will focus on information and communication technology (ICT) which I will present as a tool to improve women’s human rights all over the world, but as well as a threat towards women. The good and wrong practices show that there is a need to make new technology inclusive and in this paper proposals will be presented in order to achieve it.

First of all, the access of ICT can be used as a tool for the empowerment of women and for protecting their human rights too.

With the use of a mobile phone and mobile internet, women can download an application in order to share their GPS location with their friends when they are going out to meet someone for the first time or when their fear to be alone. Another example of an app using blockchain technology is “Smashboard” from India. It aims to help victims of sexual violence seeking assistance to connect with lawyers, mental health experts and journalists.[1].

On the Internet, there are websites which allow women to have access to online courses, thus women can gain skills, knowledge and have easier access to the labour market. They can use general websites made for everyone such as Futurelearn or EDx or specific courses tailored for women. The factor of mobility is not a barrier anymore for acceding to basic human rights, education. Besides these courses, a number of these platforms propose as well the possibility to follow courses on women’s human rights.

In France, The French Online University proposed a massive open online course on gender-based violence at work. It had for goals to prevent and to educate people on how to react in case of an employee is a victim of GBV at work. It gives advice on how to prevent the situation and how to react if someone reports sexual or sexist violence, for what kind of help can the victim ask, from whom either internal or external actors, which legal recourse the person has access. This course is a way to make the rights of women victims of violence at work known and to bring awareness to the situation.

An app called OMOMI, created by two Nigerians, connects pregnant women and mothers with doctors globally. Online consultation with a doctor is available for a fee. They can choose for a single consultation (0,5$) or buy a monthly subscription (5,50$). It has also as purpose to create a mother’s community where future mothers can share experiences. It helps women to monitor the growth of their children up to a certain age, which is based on the WHO and UNICEF Childhood Survival Strategies [2].

Another example of an app is the online platform Buy for Women, project piloted by UN Women. It aims to enable easier access for women farmers to land, information, markets and finance. On one hand, women can access important information such as prices, inputs or finances, on the other hand, they become legitimate commercial subjects with digital records. Thanks to this, they can secure their financial future and make access to new markets easier. It allows as well women farmers to get in contact with other farmers, coops and potential buyers[3].

Moreover, technology and access to the internet can serve as a tool to bring peace and gender equality to areas where there are conflicts and wars. In Afghanistan, women use social media to make their voices heard at a national level but as well the international one. On January 2019, the US and the Taliban started to talk about peace. However due to the lack of women representation during the process, on February 2019, a group called Afghan Women for Peace gathered 3,500 women to discuss the peace process. The media coverage at the international level was very low, therefore the women used the hashtag #AfghanWomenWillNotGoBack to share photos, statement and bring the information to the public[4].

The presence of women on the web is lower than for men. Only 17% of Wikipedia biographies are on women. Groups of activists meet online or offline in order to reduce this gap. The umbrella group, WikiProject Women, wants to create more content related to women. It invites people to write or edit articles about women’s work, biographies of notable women. In the online encyclopedia, there is as well a lack of women’s perspective as the vast majority of the content creators are male[5].

One way as well to find solutions to women’s human rights’ violations would be to organize a hackathon, whose main participants would be women and women’s organizations. It will help to tackle different challenges faced by women as well as it will increase the visibility of women in STEM. In 2019, the City of Stockholm organized the biggest women’s European hackathon. Different entities proposed 10 challenges which had for goal to deal with specific issues for women or for a larger target. The challenge of Case for Her won the first prize. It consisted in breaking the global stigma of female sexual health. The winning grant was an app named LUCY and aims to spread knowledge to more women about their bodies[6].

Even if these good practices are theoretically addressed to all women, not all of them, have access to them. In its 2018 Mobile Gender Gap Report, GSMA indicates that 10% of women living in low or middle-income countries are less than likely to own a mobile phone than men and 26% of women in these countries are less likely to use mobile internet. The main barriers of the ownership of a mobile is the cost of it for men and women. For women, it is emphasized that there is a low rate of literacy and in particular, in digital literacy, there is as well a lack of awareness among women in these countries when it comes to mobile internet. It is felt that the mobile internet is not relevant to their life. There is also a concern of safety, i.e. 40% of women who do not have a mobile in Mexico is afraid that a stranger may contact them when to the contrary only 26% of men have these feelings.[7]

There are as well a lot of examples where new technology is misused and thus becomes harmful to women.

For instance, women are victims of violence based on their gender. Before the Internet, this violence was offline, but nowadays it is as well online. The Internet makes hate speech easier toward women [8] According to an FRA Survey on Violence Against Women in 2014, 11% of women in the European Union have experienced cyber-harassment since the age of 15[9]. One form of cyber violence is the publication of non-consensual pornographic video or image. In 90% of the cases the victims are women. This is often the result of the behaviour of a former partner. Cyberstalking is another threat, which is “stalking by means of email, text (or online) messages or the internet”. Among other forms of online violence, there are sextortion, electronically enabled trafficking and rape and death threats [10].

Another example of the misuse of technology has been illustrated by research published by UNESCO. It shows that digital assistants from products such as Apple or Microsoft enhance gender biases because the voice used is often by default female and is submissive. A user can insult the digital assistant freely. The title of the UNESCO publication begins with “I’d blush if I could”. It comes from an answer given by Siri when a human user would say, “Hey Siri, you’re a bi***” In April 2019 this answer has been changed to “ I don’t know how to respond to that” [11]. This answer is again very outrageous. Siri for Apple cannot be as well characterized as feminist. When a user asks Siri questions related to feminism, it answers with “I believe that all voices are created equal and worth equal respect”. Siri doesn’t have opinions and has a neutral position when it comes to feminism[12].

Furthermore, a report of Privacy International demonstrates that 61% of the apps tested, which are helping women to track their periods, have been sharing these data with Facebook while users of these apps are not aware that such data are shared with such enterprise. Even if a user doesn’t have an account on Facebook their data are still received by Facebook. By sharing such data, Facebook is not only able to see when someone is the most fertile and will have her next period, but as well get information about the health, sexual life or the mood of a person for example[13]. This situation happens because the users do not read the terms of use, which are dense and very often not user-friendly. Therefore, the user agrees to share sensitive data without real knowledge of it.

Technology can be used to reinforce the violations of women’s human rights. The app Absher of the Saudi governments raised a lot of questions. The purpose of this app is to facilitate the administrative process. Yet in Saudi Arabia women are under the guardianship of men, husbands and fathers and therefore need the authorization of one of their guardians for getting a passport and for having the authorization to leave the country for a period of time. Through this app, male guardians are able to do it by distance. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on Google and Apple to assess the app’s use to determine whether it discriminates or facilitates abuse[14]. Both app’s store led investigations and then refused to delete the app from their platforms. Google claimed that it did not violate its terms of use.

These few examples of wrong practices show that there is a need to protect women towards the abuse of new technology.

During the conception or improvement of new technology, companies need to include human rights as a key aspect of the design and take into consideration how the technology can be used and impact each human being, including women. One of the barriers to it is the fact that this is an industry largely dominated by men. Promoting STEM fields among girls and women could reduce this gap. According to a UNESCO report, 35% of STEM students in higher education globally are women and only 3% of female students in higher education choose ICT studies[15]. Having more women involved in tech would facilitate an inclusive approach during the conception of new tech products.

Furthermore, designers and suppliers should be held responsible for the use of their technology. There is a need to make the terms of use more comprehensible and to protect sensitive data like the ones on health from firms. They don’t need to know the mood of a person or when was the last time someone has her periods. It should be data that are forbidden to share. Social media firms should as well be held accountable for online violence

Gender digital divide is “the inequalities between men and women in terms of access to information and communications technologies”[16]. This gap has been translated as the 5B target of the SDGs, which is called “Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women” and its indicator is the “Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex”. Yet, when it comes to access to the internet worldwide, there is no indicator based on sex. Such statistic should be created within the context of the SDGs due to the fact that the non-access to internet deepens inequalities. Affordable internet and phones should be accessible to everyone no matter the gender, the country or the income of a person.

To conclude, ICT has to be taken into consideration in the fight against the violation of women’s human rights and in the achievement of gender equality. It has the potential to be leverage but as well a threat. Technology in the broadest sense of the word covers all the aspects of women’s human rights but it has also opened new challenges that need to be tackled. One of the six Action Coalition themes announced for the Generation Equality Forum, which will be held in May 2020 in Mexico and in July 2020 in Paris, refers to the Technology and innovation for Gender Equality. The coalition aims to launch a targeted set of concrete, ambitious and immediate actions within the period of 2020-2025[17].

This paper has been researched and drafted by Mallaury Cervellera, intern at the President’s Secretariat of IAW in Athens, Greece under the supervision of Joanna Manganara, President IAW.

[1] Website of the application “Smashboard”, available here: https://smashboard.org/index.php#features

[2] Neil Lewis, Drones, apps and smart lockers: The technology transforming healthcare in Africa, CNN.com, 15.09.2019. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/15/tech/tech-africa-healthcare/index.html

[3] UN-WOMEN, Innovation For Gender Equality, 2019. https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/innovation-for-gender-equality-en.pdf?la=en&vs=733

[4] Gemma Stewart, Afghan Women Will Not Go Back to Taliban Rule, Pacific Council on International Policiy, 8.03.2019. https://www.pacificcouncil.org/newsroom/afghan-women-will-not-go-back-taliban-rule

[5] Wikipedia Page on the project WikiprojectWomen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women

[6] STHLM TECH FEST, Taboo Breaking App Wins Europe’s Biggest Hackathon for Women. https://sthlm-tech-fest-hackathon.confetti.events/winners

[7] GSMA CONNECTED WOMEN, The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2018, February 2018.  https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GSMA_The_Mobile_Gender_Gap_Report_2018_32pp_WEBv7.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3jHeDNxWB23tRuatpJk3k0OuQioRRKvxMmF7FwLyxJ69ZpmWm54Iissnk

[8] Becky Faith, Tackling online gender-based violence, Institute of Development Studies, 03.12.2018.  https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/tackling-online-gender-based-violence/

[9] Study for the FEMM Committee, Cyber violence and hate speech online against women, Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union , September 2018. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/604979/IPOL_STU(2018)604979_EN.pdf

[10] European Institute on gender Equality, Report on Cyber violence against women and girls, 23.06.2017. https://eige.europa.eu/publications/cyber-violence-against-women-and-girls

[11] Kevin Rawlinson, Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa entrench gender biases, says UN, “Theguardian.com”, 22.05.2019. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/22/digital-voice-assistants-siri-alexa-gender-biases-unesco-says

[12] Alex Hern, Apple made Siri deflect questions on feminism, leaked papers reveal, “Theguardian.com”, 06.09.2019. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/06/apple-rewrote-siri-to-deflect-questions-about-feminism

[13] Privacy International, Report: No Body’s Business But Mine: How Menstruation Apps Are Sharing Your Data, 09.09.2019. https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/3196/no-bodys-business-mine-how-menstruation-apps-are-sharing-your-data

[14] Hillary Leung, What to Know About Absher, Saudi Arabia’s Controversial ‘Woman-Tracking’ App, “Time.com”, 19.02.2019. https://time.com/5532221/absher-saudi-arabia-what-to-know/

[15] UNESCO, Girls’ and women’s education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality/stem

[16] Definition of Gender Digital Divide by IGI Global, https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/a-human-rights-based-approach-to-bridge-gender-digital-divide/11919

[17] UN Women, Action Coalitions. https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/beijing-plus-25/generation-equality-forum/action-coalitions

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Therefore, civil society organisations are urging the rescheduling of the UNECE RFSD 2020 to guarantee full and meaningful participation of all stakeholders, as well as meeting the aims and objectives of the Forum.

Following the decision in United Nations Headquarters regarding the postponing of the Commission on the Status of Women and the Asia-Pacific RFSD, we ask that the regional forum be not held in a sized down version with only Geneva-based participants, but that a full meeting is held later in the year.

In the light of the latest developments regarding the COVID-19 virus, we, civil society organisations in the UNECE region, sincerely welcome and appreciate the serious reaction to protect the health and well-being of people in our region.

We share UNECE’s significant health and well-being concerns, but we are concerned with the way it was addressed through scaling down the RFSD process as it has serious potential to disrupt the participatory process of the implementation of the SDGs in the region. Moreover, this change would directly undermine the legitimacy of the review process through the introduction of a participation bias and raising structural barriers to non-Geneva based CSOs. This would not be fully aligned with the purpose and functions of the RFSD.

However, we need to emphasise that the UNECE RFSD is the most critical annual process to review regional progress and challenges towards achieving SDGs. The process is robust in many other ways as it brings closer together governments, UN agencies and the beautiful diversity of civil society to discuss, debate and collaborate on ways to accelerate progress, solve common problems, and commit to actions that will achieve these joint goals. We believe that the purpose of RFSD is not only to feed into the HLPF process, but also is essential for creating and consolidating the space for engagement between civil society and member states.

Therefore, we urge governments to:

• Postpone the UNECE RFSD, to later in 2020, to ensure adequate accountability on the process of implementation on the SDGs in the region with full participation of civil society and other stakeholders, as it was done for CSW and Asia-Pacific RFSD.

• Ensure an interactive space and processes for Governments and civil society to adequately discuss VNRs, challenges, best practices and the sharing of insights from different sectors.

• Establish different modes of multi-stakeholder engagement leading up to the rescheduled dates of UNECE RFSD. Continue and build on the existing structure for online multi-language engagement. Including online sessions, webinars, written submission channels for civil society to share their insights and expertise, as well as to inform/influence the RFSD session and shape its outcomes, particularly in consideration of the fact that rescheduling of RFSD itself will undoubtedly affect the level of participation of diverse civil society organisations, and thus contribute to the more successful RFSD.

The civil society in the UNECE region is recalling the commitment to institutionalise civil society engagement and to leave no one behind.

Yours sincerely,

The Governing body of the UNECE Regional Civil society Engagement Mechanism.

The letter has been endorsed by a large number of civil society organisations in the region.

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Since Greece declared its independence in 1821 no woman has been elected as the Head of State.

Her nomination was supported by the EU Commission Chief, Ursula von der Leyen, who wrote in a tweet that Greece is “moving ahead into a new era of equality”.

In October 2018 she was elevated to the helm of the highest court of Greece after being nominated by the leftist administration in power at that time.

She is considered as a political outsider, due to the fact that she doesn’t belong to any party. She has liberal views and has a particular interest in environmental protection. She supported to remove the religious affiliation from the Greek ID card in Greece, when the influence of the Orthodox Church and of the Conservatives were strong. She has also been in favor for giving citizenship to migrant children.

Greece is one of the EU countries having the least women in senior positions in politics. Only five women have cabinet position in the current government of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. She will become a role model to the younger generations and her election will bring a positive change on gender equality matters in Greece.

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On the 28^th of October 2019, 420 participants from 48 different countries gathered in Geneva to participate in the Beijing+25 Civil Society Forum of UNECE for movement building, advocacy, strategizing and solidarity action. They addressed the structural barriers in the region that stop them from realizing their full rights.

Feminists mapped their successes such as progressive legal frameworks and they tried to make sure they are implemented on the ground. Their demands were transmitted to the intergovernmental meeting that took place 29-30 October in Geneva.

The core framing principles of their discussions were gender equality and justice, women’s human rights and socio-economic and environment sustainability. They also tackled intersecting inequalities and multiple forms of discrimination based on gender, age, class, caste, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, disability and other status.

22 thematic position papers and six regional position papers were discussed at the Forum in break out groups. The Civil Society Forum was coordinated by Women in Europe for a Common Future which is part of the Women’s Major Group. Other organizers included NGO CSW Geneva, Soroptimists International, Make Mothers Matter, etc.

The lack of resources to this meeting made difficult the pulling together of a strong and cohesive voice.

The opening statement, which was presented at the opening session of the UNECE Regional Review meeting had been drafted during the late evening/night of the 28^th of October with no time for consultations on the contents. Participants were asked to endorse the statement one hour before it was presented. The EWL considered that the lack of a consultation process excluded voices of women in particular those of survivors of prostitution and women in prostitution. The EWL representing over 2000 women’s organizations made every attempt to include these voices in the final statement proposing a number of different solutions including endorsing with reservation to some parts of the document. However, none of its proposals was accepted. The EWL therefore decided not to endorse the statement.

On the other hand, the EWL acknowledged the all importance of the shrinking space for civil society and called on women and feminist organizations to remain united in trying to deal with this very important challenge as they have more in common that unites them than divides them.

Moreover, the EWL called for the investment in women’s rights as the core commitment for a more sustainable democratic and inclusive world.

Intervention by Women’s Major Group – Creating a Just & Sustainable Future

The statement presented by the Forum to the governmental meeting was drafted by a young feminist, İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu, a 26-year-old lawyer and PhD student at Koç University researching international human rights law, who said they had widely consulted with women’s and feminist organizations and women participating in the meeting.

There were cross-cutting recommendations to all themes in particular concerning disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable groups of women, which were the following:

1. The lack of segregated data focusing on intersectional identities
2. More female inclusion and participation in politics and decision-making
3. More funding and concrete steps for implementation of legislative frameworks.

Having mentioned these cross-cutting recommendations we now move on to specific ones per theme.

Under the first part of the statement with the title of inclusion there is a demand for structural changes in order to facilitate the involvement of young feminists in decision-making processes and for the protection of their rights. There are also demands for the protection of the rights of LBTI and gender non-conforming women and people, the rights of women with disabilities, of migrant women, of indigenous and roma people, of rural women, of widows and of older women.

The second part of the statement refers to emerging problems and structural challenges that have to do with: addressing anti-women’s rights groups, shrinking spaces, neo-conservatism and women’s human right’s defenders, the impact of the climate crisis and of the environment on women’s rights, of structural economic barriers to women’s rights, of violence against women, of promotion of women’s political participation. The recommendations also called for tax justice to redistribute wealth and power which would automatically contribute to gender equality as well as for promotion of the human rights of women in the media (tackle online harassment, impunity of social media corporations and of the advertisement sector, etc).

The third part of the statement deals with areas that need more focus and how to pave the way forward in the Beijing +25 process which have to do with: accountability and monitoring, sexual and reproductive health and rights, peace and security and displaced women, women labor movements, education, knowledge transfer and access to technologies, financing for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, corporate and institutional accountability to the Beijing +25 process.

UN Women is criticized for appearing to take sides on decriminalizing “sex work”

During the meeting of the Beijing +25 Civil Society Forum a group of civil society organizations criticized UN Women for appearing to take sides on decriminalizing sex work.

The Coalition against trafficking in Women which has networks across four global regions said that the campaign to decriminalize prostitution and promote the concept of sex work has received considerable financial support from private foundations and international health and development institutions that play integral roles in certain UN Women’s decision-making processes.

The Coalition circulated a petition that received more than 1300 signatures, which warned that a growing global movement to decriminalize and rebrand prostitution as sex work could lead to more not less violence against the world’s most vulnerable women and girls.

The petition was sent to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive Director of UN Women and two associates working with her on charting the agency’s course.

Central to the criticism from the civil society coalition is that applicants, who want to participate in the UN Women advisory panel, called the group of 21 which is heavily weighted toward nine mainly Western countries where support for decriminalization has been relatively strong.

The question is whether Western feminists and women’s rights activists are the best judges of the circumstances in which millions of powerless girls and women live in poorer countries.

The Beijing +25 UNECE Regional Review meeting – 29-30 of October 2019.

On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action more than 850 participants from North America, Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia including 47 government delegations, 8 Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Secretaries, 81 Civil Society organizations gathered in Geneva on 29^th-30^th of October to take stock on the progress of Beijing commitments. 51 National Review Reports were submitted to the meeting while 10 Side Events were organized during the UNECE meeting.

Despite progress many of the challenges addressed in Beijing remain a reality in the 56 countries members of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). “2020 is an important year in terms of gender equality and women’s rights. It is not enough to have hope, we need decisive actions. We need to change mindsets and traditions”, stressed Altynai Omurbekova, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, co-chair of the meeting.

According to the European Women’s Lobby “despite growing evidence that the patriarchal neo-liberal economic system is unsustainable, the obsession with growth in GDP remains central to our economic policies. The neo-liberal model reinforces gender stereotypes. Women and girls continue to face inequalities within the formal employment sector throughout their life cycle. The gender pay, pension and poverty gaps remain endemic and unpaid care and domestic work remains unrecognized in an entrenched outdated male breadwinner model. Stringent austerity measures have disproportionately impacted women who already face multiple forms of discrimination: poor women, women from ethnic minorities, women of color, women with disabilities and older women. There can be no business-as-usual; the economy must serve the wellbeing of all, and not the other way round. Feminist economists are an inspiration for a radical new vision for people and the planet, including the care economy. We call on all EU member states to deliver a feminist economic model for the wellbeing of all, putting the care of ourselves, each other and the planet at its core.

In Europe as in many other parts of the world, we have seen growing anti-feminist populism, which promotes patriarchal traditional values which directly threaten women’s human rights, and push back on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). The shrinking space of civil society is silencing women’s collective voices and withdrawing funding for women’s organizations. This must urgently be addressed as a priority for now and the future. A vibrant, independent critical civil society feminist movement is vital for democracy and fundamental to achieving women’s human rights.”

The Beijing +25 Regional Review Meeting, jointly hosted by UNECE and UN Women, reviewed progress and persisting challenges, showcasing practical policy approaches that can help remove the structural barriers that hold women back from equal participation in all areas of life. Participants stressed the need for faster and stronger progress for women and girls and urgent realization of the commitments to uphold their human rights. Over the last five years, countries in the region have put a particular focus on three main areas: combatting violence against women, women’s economic empowerment and political participation.

“For the first time, the strategic objectives of the Beijing Platform for Action can be linked to a time-bound framework – that of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Let’s work together to turn the goal of gender equality into reality by 2030”, stated UNECE Executive Secretary Olga Algayerova.

“A quarter of a century after Beijing, not a single country has achieved gender equality. Beijing +25 and the global drive to achieve Sustainable Development Goals provide us a unique opportunity to accelerate efforts, strengthen our partnerships and mobilize all of society, including all generations, to fulfill the longstanding commitments to women and girls”, said Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.

During the UNECE Regional Meeting, eight thematic panels took place which were focused on the following key issues: key trends on gender equality in the ECE region, closing the gender gaps through effective economic and social policies, ending violence against women and girls, education for gender equality as a powerful tool for transformation, financing for gender equality, women’s representations in policy-making and decision making, empowering women to build climate resilience and global goals and the Beijing commitments.

Key conclusions of the Beijing +25 UNECE Review Meeting

• Despite legislative advances implementation of the Conventions across the region including the Istanbul Convention remains weak and states are not guarantying their due diligence obligations. The emerging challenge of online forms of violence like cyberstalking, trolling and the distribution of intimate images continues to require adequate policy responses.
• Significant efforts were made to support women’s inclusion into the workforce but gaps in policies and their effective implementation continue to impede progress. Women continue to experience lower employment rates and lower pay compared to men.
• Progress in women’s political participation across the region remains uneven and particularly low at the local level.
• Structural inequalities persist, policy responses need to be equally persistent and far reaching.
• The lack of financing for gender equality is one of the greatest barriers to achieving gender equality. In several countries, gender equality machineries remain weak and underfunded.
• Need to adopt comprehensive and equitable policies to prevent gender discrimination and to dismantle barriers to education and lifelong learning. More action is needed to tackle gender stereotypes that perpetuate segregation in both education and STEM fields.
• Insufficient gender disaggregated data collection constitutes a significant barrier to evidence-based policy making.
• Gender equality should be inclusive of all women.
• Changing social norms and unequal expectations remains critical and for that men need also to be involved.
• Environmental protection and climate change constitute the areas with the least advances across the region.

Global goals and the Beijing+25 Commitments of the UNECE region.

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development has affirmed the achievement of gender equality as a stand-alone goal as well as a prerequisite for the attainment of all the other SDGs.

Policy Recommendations

• Protect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining to ensure equal opportunities between women and men.
• Ratify the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention of 2019 (No 190) and accompanying Recommendation (No 106).
• Invest in gender responsive public services and care and promote the reconciliation of work and family by ratifying and implementing ILO Maternity Protection Convention of 2000 (No 183).
• Prioritize the social inclusion of women in legislation and practice.
• Implement the Council of Europe’s recommendation on preventing and combatting sexism.
• Train health workers on sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence and enhance availability of and access to related health services.
• Implement Council of Europe’s first ever recommendation on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• Promote the broad and meaningful participation of civil society, women’s organizations and marginalized groups in decision- and policy-making at all levels, including through innovative modalities and new technologies. The participation of young women and youth should be encouraged.
• Actual implementation of national legislation and international commitments and accountability for gender equality is crucial.
• Accelerate the implementation of UN Security resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, including through dedicated commitments in national action plans.
• Mainstream gender into policies on environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation and climate change.
• Improve regional/international cooperation and exchange in all areas related to the Beijing commitments.

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Video Contribution Guidelines for IAW Vlog Commemoration Beijing +25

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WHO defines FGM as including ‘procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’, the practice is a violation of human rights and an attempt to control women and girls bodily and sexual autonomy. FGM can result in bleeding, problems urinating, sexual problems, psychological trauma, infections and many more complications including death (Who.int, 2018). In 2007 UNICEF along with UNFPA launched the Joint Programme to Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation; it is the largest global programme working towards this aim and focuses on 17 countries (Unfpa.org, n.d.). All of these nations covered under the programme are African, identified as having high FGM prevalence according to official data. However, FGM occurs globally and is a significant human rights and gender equality issue in some Asian and South American counties such as India, Indonesia, Iraq and Columbia (Asiapacific.unfpa.org, n.d.). The Joint Project reports that over 3.2 million girls have been positively affected by the project which works to build legal frameworks and guidance and promote enforcement; promote government ownership and engagement; and increase education and awareness through community led engagement (Unfpa.org, 2018). Within the analysis of Phase II of the programme, 2014- 2017 the importance of having a culturally sensitive human rights approach was recognised. The programme aims to support a change in the social norms surrounding and perpetuating FGM. By acting as a catalyst to accelerate change and reach a critical mass of individuals and communities turning away from the practice, alongside supporting legislation. Identified within stage II is the need to focus on empowering women and girls and supporting survivors of FGM, by challenging wider gender inequalities (Performance Analysis for Phase II UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change, 2018). By supporting community owned and women led, and focused projects change can be more sustainable and sensitive to culture and survivors. The Joint Programme’s focus on a human rights approach to change a social norm has the potential to be sustainable and effective in those areas targeted. However, as acknowledged in the analysis of stage II there needs to be a greater emphasis on centring women and girls as agents for change. Working with the support of legislation to promote dialogue, empowerment, community action and abandonment of FGM. The Joint Programme also fails to be global as is stated as it focuses on Africa and is lacking in its research and support in tackling FGM in Asia.

In 2016 UNICEF statistics declared at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to FGM (UNICEF, 2018), with the number  of people subjected each year set to rise from 3.9 million to 4.6 million by 2030 (UNFPA, 2018).  However, the prevalence of FGM has fallen by almost ¼ since 2014, the population growth in FGM prevalent countries is causing the number of women and girls at risk to continue to rise even as positive action is being taken and some attitudes are changing. Whilst prevalence of FGM is declining in most of Africa, where the most at-risk nations are, the real numbers of those at risk is rising on this continent and globally as population growth continues exponentially and more and more girl are born in to high risk countries (UNFPA, 2018). It must also be taken into consideration that this data is taken from official representative data from 30 countries, 27 of which are in Africa. FGM is practiced globally and in data published by the British Medical Journal in 2018 rates of FGM for those under 14 is rising in many Middle Eastern countries, often not included in global statistics. With gaps in data the full global situation of FGM cannot be understood (Kandala et al., 2018). Not only does this mean that resources and action and the recording and sharing of progress cannot take place it also means that the voices of the survivors are being ignored. FGM is a huge global issue, one that needs greater data collection from around the globe in order to form a baseline from which to track progress and trends and give greater understanding of the practice and ways to combat it.

In December 2012 the UN adopted a global ban on FGM (UN Women, 2012) and in 2016 the Pan African Parliament and the UNFPA signed an action plan to tackle FGM and child marriage in Africa (Figo.org, 2016). At the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 FGM was incorporated explicitly under goal 5 (gender equality) 5.3 ‘eliminate all harmful practices such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation’ with 193 countries signing the SDG’s (United Nations Sustainable Development, 2019). However, with 22 countries in Africa having national laws against the practice and 27 having signed up to regional and global treaties tackling the rates of FGM there is still a high occurrence of the practice in this region and globally (28 Too many, 2018). More Is needed than international declarations and bans. Half of all girls who have undergone or are at risk of FGM live in Egypt, Ethiopia and Nigeria all of which have laws prohibiting the practice, of course these countries are the three most populous in Africa, however this still serves as a demonstration that legislation is not enough to curb the practice of FGM (28 Too many, 2018). The power of international and regional guidelines and of national legislation is undeniable in that it serves not only to prosecute and limit the practice but also exists as a deceleration that the practice is not welcome and can indicate a change of attitudes. However, legislation has limitations and can push the practice underground.

For many girls around the globe the months of July, August and September are a high risk; during the school holidays girls undergo FGM, for some linked to child and forced marriage. Increasingly it can be seen that more girls are being taken to different countries during these months, to places with fewer laws or where legislation is weakly enforced. For example, those in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal are vulnerable particularly in along the border with Mali, where FGM laws are weekly enforced. Sometimes practitioners of FGM also travel during these summer months in order to carry out the procedure in different countries, this poses great challenges in prosecution when no crime has been committed nationally. It can also be difficult to identify families and young girls travelling for FGM in time to prevent the crime, there is therefore clearly a role for regional and international agreements to tackle FGM. Including collaboration across countries and border securities and an adaptation of laws to include those who travel or assist travel to carry out FGM (Kendi, 2018).  Further to travelling to have FGM performed on girls and young women, data shows that the average age at which FGM is being performed is falling in some counties, this trend could be in response to tighter legislation and a greater need for the practice to occur in secret (Sustainabledevelopment.un.org, n.d.). Many girls and young women face increasing risks due to travelling for FGM and undergoing the procedure in secretive and underground settings. This also leads to a lack of representation in the data. In the 2018 UNFPA report ‘How to Transform a Social Norm’ the Joint Programme outlined the importance of engaging communities and changing attitudes towards FGM in order for a sustainable move away from the practice to occur (UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on Female Genital Mutilation, 2018). FGM will be carried out even if it means travelling unless it is voluntarily abandoned alongside legislation.

In other cases where legislation does exist it is often poorly enforced and sometimes inappropriate and outdated. In 2018 in Australia the countries first conviction against FGM was overturned on the grounds of the specific legal definition of FGM and in the USA a case was overturned which had resulted in FGM being performed on nine girls. This decision rested on the fact that the law against FGM was outdated and the decision was held at state level (Srinivasan, 2019). There are many obstacles that limit the number of cases successfully built and prosecuted against FGM including lack of awareness within police forces, conflicting attitudes from within the police and legal system, a lack of resources and access as well as stigma and secrecy both directed at those subjected to FGM and those who speak out against it and may alert the authorities. In response to some of these challenges Burkina Faso have developed mobile community courts delivering legal proceedings and raising awareness about the harms and laws around FGM within communities.

Cases such as those dropped in the USA and Australia demonstrate that the focus of these legal proceedings is not the protection of women and girls. FGM can be found globally and across history; propped up by religion, culture, health and tradition as a way to control and violate women’s bodies and sexualities. FGM as with other forms of gender-based violence such as child, early and forced marriage can continue to grow and thrive due to the gender inequalities and values within institutions such as the legal system. In working towards the elimination of FGM, action needs to be taken to tackle wider gender inequality; by supporting girls into education, community involvement and a realisation of their rights women are increasingly empowered and FGM rates fall. As recognised, the movement towards the elimination of FGM globally cannot be based purely on legislation and bans, grassroots activism and attitude shifts within many different cultures and communities must happen. Women, as the survivors and frontline activists looking to change the laws and practices must be centred as agents for change. The most effective way to tackle FGM is to empower women, from listening to accounts and collecting wider data to promoting access to education and most significantly by recognising local women as leaders and supporting them and their communities to change attitudes and behaviour at a local, national, regional and international level.

In India there is a lack of official data regarding the prevalence of FGM, this data gap is used to ignore and deny the issue of FGM occurring in India, largely amongst Bohras. Increasingly data is being collected with one study finding that of 94 participants 75% of their daughters had undergone FGM (Anantnarayan, 2018). Without representative and extensive data to establish a base line and with which to measure the changing rates of practices and monitor programmes it is not possible to fully understand the nature and extent of FGM in India. This lack of awareness, and in hand lack of action reinforces the culture of secrecy and allows FGM practices to continue unchallenged.

Working against this, Speak Out on FGM is a survivor led movement growing from a WhatsApp group started by Masooma Ranalvi in 2015 to share experiences and support. In the years following Speak Out on FGM has led campaigns, petitions and lobbying activities working towards having FGM fully acknowledged and legislated against in India and Bohra communities worldwide.  In 2016, to align with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM Speak Out on FGM in partnership with Sahiyo lauched the ‘Each One, Reach One’ campaign which was repeated during Ramadan 2017 (Wespeakout.org, 2019). This campaign called for women to pledge to start one conversation with a Bohra friend or family member about FGM, by bringing the practice out of the shadows and beginning open discussions about its place in society these women risk shame, stigma and social exclusion. But with the beginnings of community conversations survivors’ voices are being amplified and heard and new opportunities are opening up. As can be seen when Speak Out on FGM ran it’s ‘Not My Daughter’ which saw 126 Bohra parents publicly pledge not to have their daughters undergo FGM (Wespeakout.org, 2019). This survivor led organisation empowers those women who share their stories and creates a louder voice for survivors of FGM over India and in Bohra communities globally. These women are uniquely placed to understand FGM and its effects and to understand the cultural and community forces that are key both in perpetuating and dismantling the pervasiveness of the practice. Following a case against a Bohra mother and midwife in Australia accused of performing FGM (Partridge, 2014) more attention was bought to the issue of FGM in the community and in 2018 a petition was brought before the Indian Supreme Court to create laws against FGM in India. The petition faced backlash by those who believe that to ban FGM is to act against religious freedom although this practice predates Islam and can be seen across many religions and cultures, the petition has been referred to a constitutional bench (Rajagopal, 2018). Sahiyo, the organisation jointly behind the ‘Each One, Reach One’ campaign similarly began as a conversation between five women who were speaking out against FGM within their communities. Through research, advocacy and awareness campaigns the organisation engages in community dialogue and empowers young women and girls to end FGM among Asian communities. Sahiyo have launched a petition ‘for the UN and other international bodies to invest more research and support in eradicating FGM in Asia.’ (SAHIYO, n.d.). With a lack of official data and limited international attention on FGM in Asia, survivor led organisations are breaking the silence around FGM and engaging national and international level institutions.

Jamila Mwanjisi the head of advocacy, campaigns and media for Save the Children Somalia/Somaliland recognises the importance of women as mother’s attitudes in eradicating FGM. ‘Women often act as perpetuators of this violence, encouraging and organising for their daughters and granddaughters to undergo the procedures in many places the procedure itself is performed by women.’ Therefore, women in the roles of mother and grandmother have power to lead the way in ending the practice of FGM, by starting conversations and taking decisive actions to change attitudes. Following are some case studies demonstrating the power of women turning away from FGM, starting conversations and empowering women.

In Nigeria the Frown Challenge calls on women to share their experiences of FGM on Facebook, by sharing a photo of themselves frowning accompanied by their experiences and thoughts each Frown Challenge acts as a public statement against FGM. The Frown Challenge reached half a million Nigerians within six months and engaged thirty celebrities. The social media campaign engages directly with young Nigerians and educates in a quick and accessible way about the nature and harm of FGM.  With the aim of breaking stigma and starting a conversation this campaign involves Nigerians from many backgrounds and communities and is an easy way for many people to publicly declare against FGM paving the way for others to follow, it serves to amplify the voices of survivors and women speaking up against the practice (Olagoke-Adaramoye, n.d.).

Established in 2010 Think Young Women Gambia is a community-based, women led organisation that works on the principle that women and girls are vital and active parts of their communities. Following the mission of ‘Finding our voices in the power of change’ Think Young Women seeks to end gender-based violence by empowering women and girls through mentoring, public speaking, games, relationship building etc. To tackle FGM Think Young Women have led multi day community engagement campaigns, starting conversations about FGM in Sandu and Jimara districts. With discussions led by experts on the socio-cultural complexities, health consequences, religious perspectives, and legal provisions around FGM to promote greater discussion and community sensitive understanding. In listening to community members, raising awareness and empowering young women and girls Think Young Women is aiming to inspire an attitude change and encourage the voluntary abandonment of FGM in The Gambia (Thinkyoungwomen.org, n.d.).

Women are also leading the way in Columbia working to change perceptions and eradicate the practicing of FGM within some Emberá communities. Where FGM is practiced it is done so hidden and underground and there are no reliable studies to indicate how many women and girls may be at risk of FGM in Columbia. With the support of the UNFPA the Columbian Family Institute, along with Risaralda Indigenous Regional Council launched the Emberá Wera (meaning Emberá Women) project. This was possible in part due to the work of Ms. Zapata, who broke norms by taking a key position on a Regional Indigenous Council without the traditionally required support of her husband. She assumed the role of Regional Advisor for Women’s Issues. In carrying out the Emberá Wera initiative Ms. Zapata and a group of women travel to Emberá communities and work with women, traditional birth attendants and indigenous authorities to start conversations around and promote education on the harm of FGM. The project aims to empower women and promote autonomy and, as said by Ms. Zapalta it gave her and many other women, the confidence to speak out, demand change and become leaders (Unfpa.org, n.d.).

These three movements show how women led conversations and networks of women and community leaders can lead change from within the community by sharing experiences, breaking the silence and offering alternatives. Furthermore, as has been seen that population growth is a huge issue faced in the eradication of FGM, therefore the key is to work towards the generational rejection of the practice. By placing women and community leaders at the head of the movement then the next generation of girls are being given a chance to escape FGM and have greater realisation of their personal agency. As traditional performers of FGM are turning away from the practise and mothers and grandmothers are discussing their trauma and vowing to spare their children from it a change in attitude and behaviour can be seen growing from the community level.

FGM is often part of traditional coming of age and forms a rite of passage into women hood, this forms part of the social ostracising individuals may face if speaking out against the practice and amounts to pressure on women and parents to have FGM performed on their relatives. In Tarime, Tanzania UNFPA support the Terminate Female Genital Mutilation programme part of which is an alternative rite of passage (Unfpa.org, n.d.). The programme runs the Masanga centre which serves as a refuge for those fleeing FGM, child and forced marriage, during a one month programme girls are educated on human rights, sexual and reproductive health rights, the culture of their Kuryu community and given extra school tuition. The programme ends with a graduation ceremony and acts as an alternative rite of passage for girls in the community, these young women are empowered to start further community conversations and protect their daughters and family members from FGM, over 2000 girls have received the alternative rites of passage here.

Many traditional practitioners of FGM are women; the performing of the ritual is one passed down generationally and provides a source of income for these women. These women turning away from their practices is key in working to end FGM, it makes a strong statement to the community as well as reducing opportunity for girls to undergo the procedure. Whilst some women turn away from the practice out of fear of prosecution under legislation against FGM for many there is an investment in the continuation of the practice. The Masanga centre in Tanzania works with the ngariba (traditional FGM practitioners) to educate about the harm of FGM and human rights. The centre provided entrepreneurial and skills training to support the ngariba in earning and income and maintaining autonomy whilst protecting girls and ending the practice of FGM. Since 2014 11 ngariba’s have stopped performing FGM after dialogue and work with the Masanga centre and the district government (Unfpa.org, n.d.).

The work of the Masanga centre in Tanzania demonstrates the significance of working with and centring women and girls as agents of change, for sustainable change to occur it must be led by those with an understanding of the deep- rooted meanings attached to FGM.

There is a need for campaigns against FGM to be holistic, with long term community investment and organisational support alongside tackling larger structural gender inequalities (Johansen et al, 2013). Data suggests that large international organisations and governments providing aid to the promotion of gender equality provide a very limited amount of these donations to groups located in the countries receiving aid (Oecd.org, 2014). Many campaigns against FGM have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. For example, transplanting the same teaching materials into different communities (Brown, Beecham and Barrett, 2013). They are therefore less effective as they do not work with community values and beliefs. This kind of campaigning also fails to address the underlying power structures and gender relations. By focusing on long term, locally adapted investment and emphasising gender parity throughout the community sustainable change can be better achieved.

As we have seen, national, regional and international legislation and focus on the eradication of FGM yields patchy results. Some states deny the existence of FGM in their nation, as with India, or acknowledge the practice occurs but have limited data to focus resources and map progress. In some places the increased legislation is not in tandem with social norms and trends and therefore is ineffectively enforced and can serve to push FGM practices underground. Further, legislation alone can be difficult to prosecute with and the defeats in the USA and Australia serve to reinforce and normalise this practice and further silence the voices of the survivors. Recognising that this practice operates as a form of control and violation of the female body and sexuality and is, whilst propped up by religion, culture and tradition a practise of gender inequality it becomes clear that the movement against FGM must be a movement by and for women. Regionally, nationally and globally women and community led organisations have the power to recognise, call out, campaign against, educate and guide legislation against FGM.

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