Conference urges strong measures against FGM

Delegates at an international conference on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya have urged states where the practice is common to adopt political, legal and social measures to eliminate the tradition. The delegates said FGM was an assault on the dignity of women and girls.

The three-day Nairobi International Conference on FGM, which ended on Saturday, called upon African Union (AU) states to ratify and implement the organisation's Maputo Protocol on FGM. The protocol was signed by 53 African heads of state during an AU summit in the Mozambican capital in July 2003. It stipulates that FGM should be condemned and prohibited.

The conference, which was attended by representatives from African and Arab countries where FGM is practised, also aimed to strengthen commitment to the Cairo Declaration on the elimination of the FGM. That declaration affirms that the practice can only be eradicated through the promotion of behaviour change and the use of legislative measures.

"Comprehensive legislation prohibiting FGM must be enacted and, where it is already adopted, appropriate strategies must be implemented to ensure its effective enforcement, including capacity building of all relevant actors," delegates to the Nairobi conference said in a final communique.

They added however that "the use of law should be one component of a multi-disciplinary approach to stopping the practice of FGM," and that law enforcement agencies should work with civil society in order to ensure effective public information and education campaigns targeting those responsible for performing FGM, including health professionals and traditional circumcisers.

The conference was organised by the Kenyan government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) including No Peace Without Justice and the Association of Media Women in Kenya, and supported by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and several other donors.

The delegates urged the formulation of rehabilitation and counselling programmes for victims of FGM, particularly the provision of health services, legal and judicial, emotional and psychological counselling, as well as vocation training.

"Governments and international actors should provide political support and, where possible, financial resources to empower NGOs in the struggle to stop FGM. Governments in particular should consider allocating resources in the national budget and working with civil society in the implementation of strategies for the abandonment of FGM," they said.

Widely practised in most African countries, FGM is rooted in discrimination against women, and violates the basic rights of the child, feminists say. Apart from being responsible for various reproductive health problems among women, FGM also contributes to high rates of school dropouts among girls, and early marriages.

According to UNICEF estimates, 2 million girls are at risk of being subjected to one form of FGM or another every year. Some 100 to 130 million women, most of them living in Africa, have suffered FGM or cutting.

In Kenya, FGM prevalence is highest in the northeastern parts of Kenya. Here, an estimated 98 percent of girls between five and nine undergo the worst form of FGM, known as infibulation. Most other communities in Kenya, however, circumcise their girls to mark the passage from childhood to womanhood, although the practise was outlawed in 2002.