Speakers on the Panel included :

Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director General, Family Women’s and Children’s Health, WHO

H.E. Mr Negash Kebret Botora, Ambassador Permanent Representattive of Ethiopia

H :E. Mr. Hand Brattskaram, Ambassadorand Permanent Representative of Norway

H :E. Mr. Reinout Vos, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of  The Netherlands

Ms. Kate Gilmore, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights

Ms. Petra Ten Hoope-Bender, Technical Adviser ; Sexual and Reproductive Health, UNFPA

Dr. Adebisi Adebayo, Senior Advisor, Inter African Committee on Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children

The discussion centred around the theme ‘Building a solid and interactive bridge between Africa and the world to accelerate ending FGM by 2030’ included presentations from different experts on the various aspects of FGM (health, Human rights and cultural). Presentations from Permanent Representatives of Missions centered on the work of their respective countries in combatting FGM. The discussions at the event was further placed into stronger perspective with the realiy of some of the consequences of the practice through the testimony of a younglady from Mauritania who presened her unfortunate personal experience with FGM at a very early age.

Participants at the meeting were welcome by Dr. Ian Skew,  who also introduced the panelists. A short video prodduced by the Uited Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) entitled ‘The day I became a Woman’ was shown to set the tone for the discussions around the subject..

Dr Flavia Bustreo chaired the discussions which she introduced with by categorically stating that the event signifies the collective voice of all present at the event saying ‘No to FGM’,  loudly and clearly. She went further to explain the relevance of WHO and its leadership in the fight to end FGM is even more important considering the issue of medicalisation of the practice by some helath professionals.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) represented by Ms Kate Gilmore Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights explained some of the facts around the strength of a Human Rights approach in efforts against FGM.  Ms Gilmore explained that with regards to FGM as a violation of the body of the girl. FGM is an unacceptable violation on the right to life, a violation on the convention against torture, and many other UN and International conventions. She further stated that there are no excuses and no justification to permit this practice to go on unpunished. She however noted that criminalising the practice is not saying it is sufficient but helpful. Human rights approach encourages engaging the people in the community so change is both sustainable and inclusive. How to uphold culture, without subjecting the body of the girl to torture is key for the OHCHR. She emphasized the fact that FGM is part of a deeper problem – the problem that someone else controls the body of the girl. She concluded by stating that the human rights approach doesn’t only look at cutting but the entire act of control of the female body in other forms and to single out FGM without noticing the savagering to the body of the girl in other parts is not acceptable.

Ms Petra ten Hoope Bender spoke on the UNFPA/UNICEF joint programme on FGM – its  success stories and lessons learnt. The joint programme encompasses the human rights based approach as well as caring for the victims. She further gave some facts and figures on milestones achieved and in some cases surpassed. Seaking on Galvanizing social networks, she explained that several communities have declared abandonment. She however noted that declaration of abandonment can lead to families seeking excision accross the border. She also pointed out that support for former excisions is necessary.

Dr Adebisi Adebayo Senior Programme Advisor described some of the successes and achievements of the Inter African Committee on Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children as well as challenges still been faced.   According to her, in view of how far we have come in the struggle to achieve Zero Tolerance to FGM, it is important to celebrate the landmark and important milestones have been recorded. In the past talking about FGM was a taboo because of it was not only shrouded in secrecy but also becasue of its link to female sexuality.  Also, noteworthy is the having a dedicated International day to mark the fight against FGM.

Dr Adebayo also spoke about the outcome declaration from the recently concluded International stakeholder meeting in Italy on FGM, at very high level with Ministers of States in attendance as well as the IAC Goodwill Ambassador, the First Lady of Burkina Faso. While this meeting attest to level of political support and attention the issue has now attracted there remain some challenges that continue to daunt the efforts of numerous advocates against the practice. Even though the law on FGM has been passed in 20 of the 29 practising Countries, implementation remains a huge challenge. It however provides the legal backing and framework for  our work. Political will has remained a challenge but we know it is surmountable based on the recent experience in Sierra Leone as a result of the outbreak of the ebola epidemics. In Countries like kenya, the cutting seasons are known and easier for the Government to move in and take action against excisers and watch out for cuttings of girls and women. To show the stronghold of culture even in the face of human rights and health arguements against FGM, Dr. Adebayo introduced Ms. Fatimata Ba Sow, a survivor of FGM who has agreed to give an account of her experience and her perspective on the fight to end FGM.

Ms. Fatima, 29 years old originally from Mauritania was born in Vesoul Franche comté, is married with 2 children. She remembers that in 1992 her sister and herself were taken on vacation to their village in Mauritania with our parents, when she was only 4 years old..  While she cannot recollect the exact moment of the excision but she has flashes of an aunt carrying her and running, According to Family sources, they had to be evacuated a few days later because her sister was in a critical situation, worse than hers. She knows that they were able to survive because they were French citizens. Their mother almost went to prison and as a result her younger sister was not cut.  It was shocking to realise that despite everything that happened to us their mother still continued to believe that FGM is a good practice, an obligation. She is determined to fight the practice for the rest of my life towards its eradication.

The Permanent Representatives  on the panel, Ambassadors Negash Kebret Botora (Ethiopia),

Hand Brattskaram (Norway) and Reinout Vos (The Netherlands) in their different presentations not only presented the actions of their individual Countries at achievng Zero Tolerance to FGM but went on to describe the committment of their Government to the global fight against FGM.  Including the different support provided projects within and outside their Countries to address the issue. All in all, the meeting was no doubt a success  partcipation at the event, the coperation among International organisations, Member States and Geneva based Non Governmental Organisations demonstrated effective partnerships.

The post International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM 6 February 2017 appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

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Among the 30 members of INTEGRA are the National Committees of UN Women and of Unicef, the BMZ (Federal Ministry of Cooperation) and the GIZ, the Agency for German International Cooperation. In the 1990es the Agency had set up in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the Supra-Regional Project to support government and NGO initiatives. They researched and published Best practices and Lessons learnt for the abandonment of the harmful traditional practice, kept track of the situation in many African francophone and some anglophone high-prevalence countries, held a conference in Sierra Leone where 9 out of 10 women are circumcised, to name but a few of the Supra-Regional Project’s activities. Early on GIZ experts invited NGOs working on FGM/C in Germany and/or in Africa – among them my organization Deutscher Frauenring – to meetings. Thus, a German network Government/ NGOs came into existence in 2000.

To learn more about how INTEGRA works in program countries go to The WHO fact sheet on FGM/C updated in 2016 is available in all official UN languages. For the English text see http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/index.html . I recommend reading it, not only for the medical information but also for the different explanations why it is practiced. It also has a resume of International Response and of WHO Response. As to the violation of the human rights of women and girls it states that FGM/C constitutes an extreme form of discrimination.

The IAW standpoint is: The Zero tolerance request repeated each 6^th February means: no loopholes like medicalization, no pricking or other “minor” Type 4 procedures to conform with social norms. Women’s sexual and reproductive health rights have to be respected. To avoid complications at birth access to contraception is of particular importance.

This also means deep-rooted beliefs have to be abandoned. These are myths about dire consequences if the woman is not circumcised:

– Her health is jeopardized, so is that of the man and the child

– She develops excessive libido, is prone to marital infidelity and prostitution

– She gets sick and infertile

– The man gets impotent because of the woman’s “penis” – her clitoris which also interferes with sexual intercourse and birth and kills the baby.

Author’s comment re this compilation: “Myths are created to cover up what is basically always behind them: controlling women’s sexuality.”

Myths and reality are far apart. FGM/C is internationally recognized as a public health issue. However, weaknesses in a government’s health structure present obstacles to follow through with an issue.

The UNDP/ UNFPA/WHO/ World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction promotes, coordinates, supports, conducts, and evaluates research on sexual and reproductive health, with particular reference to the needs of developing countries.

http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/progress72_fgm.pdf published in 2006 deals with FGM/C and has a map of Africa showing the prevalence among women aged 15 to 49. A study involving 28 393 women attending 28 obstetric centers in rural and urban areas of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Sudan, brought solid evidence that FGM/C has a negative impact on obstetric outcomes for the mother and the newborn. The risk of an adverse outcome increases with more extensive FGM/C (Type 2 and 3).

http://www.stopfgmmideast.org/ is the best Internet address I know to get condensed information about FGM/C in countries and regions outside Africa. There you also find a map on these areas of concern including country information. And you find a note on Russian religious leaders endorsing FGM/C this August. To read more go to http://www.premier.org.uk/News/World/Disgust-as-religious-leaders-endorse-FGM-in-Russia

New surgical techniques including clitoral reconstruction after (FGM/C) offer hope. In several countries including Burkina Faso and Senegal doctors trained to perform surgery to reduce clitoral pain, improve sexual pleasure, and restore a vulvar appearance similar to uncircumcised women.

Most women in Africa cannot afford the surgery, nor are they able to travel far. Quote from the story of a nurse in Ouagadougou seeking relief : “Contrary to the repair of consequences of the circumcision (obstructed menstruation, impossibility to give birth etc.) which is done in many health centers at no cost (except for a standard medical kit), the government does not pay for clitoris restoration associated primarily with the quest for pleasure.” Donations and bona fide action help a limited number of women. In European countries costs of the surgery performed on circumcised women are mostly covered by health insurance systems.

To ensure funding on an international scale the International Donors’ Working Group on FGM/C has been meeting for annual workshops since the year 2000. The EU is involved, too. Research, programs, campaigns and projects are expensive, particularly those with a holistic approach. In affluent societies cost is reduced by voluntary workers. In low and middle income countries, according to my experience, poorly or irregularly paid administrative authorities receive a small compensation for their cooperation, and other groups involved such as experts and professionals, need the income to survive.

Conclusion: No one has ever added up the cost of all the efforts – national and international. No one ever tried to establish a list of all the jobs created by awareness-raising and following through with agreed-upon action on how to free girls and women from undergoing FGM/C and empowering them to make decisions of their own. Accountability and evaluation are a must. Even for small scale projects we should insist on accountability and – at least – self-evaluation.

International action, for ex. the UNFPA joint programme on FGM/C, also aims at eliminating other harmful traditional practices like child marriage.

The post Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)- additional information appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

We are fundraising to enable two leading experts to participate: Georgette Taku Arrey from the organization Tantines du Renata and Anne Pelagie from CEFAP – Ladies Circle.  Both are leaders in their respective organizations in Cameroon, and experts in the field of violence against women in Africa.

Gender-based violence is a persistent challenge in Africa, disproportionately affecting women and children. Approximately 1 in 3 females have experienced some form of sexual abuse by the time they are 18. Media reports of acts of violence against women and children are almost a daily occurrence, and police reports continue to show annual increase in domestic violence and sexual offences against women.

Violence against women and girls comes in many forms and shapes: domestic violence, female genital mutilation and other traditional harmful practices, child marriage,  trafficking of women and girls for sexual and other purposes, femicide, rape etc.

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