UN Appeals for Zero Tolerance on Genital Cutting
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is urging the international community to back its pledge for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) by intensifying advocacy and grassroots interventions against the practice and mobilizing additional resources to combat FGM/C.
At the start of a five-day Global Technical Consultation on FGM/C, Ms. Fama Hane Ba, the Director of the Africa Division at UNFPA, said Monday that although considerable progress had been made in some countries, worrying trends are beginning to emerge. Chief among them is the increasing ‘medicalization’ of the practice as parents seek to have their daughters cut by health providers so as to minimize complications such as infection and hemorrhage.
Ms. Ba urged governments, development partners and communities to recommit themselves to the elimination of FGM, because it violates the basic human rights of women and girls and seriously endangers their health, leaving behind lasting physical and psychological effects.
WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF define FGM/C, as “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons.” An estimated 2 to 3 million girls are ‘cut’ yearly. Worldwide, between 100 and 140 million women and girls have been subjected to this practice-most of whom live in 28 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Healthcare workers are also reporting increasing numbers of FGM/C cases among immigrant communities in Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand as well as in some communities in Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Iraq.
FGM/C infringes on the rights of women and girls to reproductive health and body integrity, and constitutes a form of torture.
Ms Ba commended those organizations that are achieving high levels of success by engaging in dialogue with communities where the practice is widespread
In earlier welcoming remarks, Mr. Benson Morah, the Director of UNFPA’s Country Support Team in Addis Ababa, said, “The practice of FGM/C is deeply rooted in some of our cultures, and its eradication must also come from changes within those cultures.”
During the meeting, over 70 experts from across the globe, including participants from UN agencies, faith-based and non-governmental organizations, law enforcement agencies, governments and research institutions, will discuss strategies and adopt a road map for ending FGM/C, along with related issues of sexual and reproductive health, human rights and gender.
Source: Oneworld.net – 31 July 2007
