The Seminar for Central and West African Parliaments “Taking legislative action to end violence against women and girls”, organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the National Assembly of Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou on 30 March – 1 April 2011 was opened by the First Lady of Burkina Faso, H.E. Ms Chantal Compaoré, with a call to all African States to support the initiative spearheaded by Burkina Faso for the adoption of a Resolution by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to universally and explicitly ban female genital mutilation (FGM).
No Peace Without Justice joined forces with The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, Euronet-FGM and the Senegalese NGO La Palabre to form a coalition for a Campaign for a Worldwide Ban FGM and over the past year have collaborated on several initiatives to raise awareness internationally about the need for a UNGA Resolution banning this human rights violation, gathering the support of human rights activists, women’s organizations, parliamentarians and government representatives from throughout Africa and Europe. The participation of the coalition, represented by NPWJ, in the Seminar in Ouagadougou, was an important opportunity for further outreach with decision-makers and opinion-leaders to increase understanding and support for the Campaign.
NPWJ, together with the other members of the coalition, welcomes H.E. Mme Compaoré’s opening statement, in which she recalled Burkina Faso’s forceful stance in protecting and promoting the rights of women and particularly the efforts it has undertaken to eliminate FGM with the adoption and application of a law prohibiting the practise. She spoke of various national and regional efforts, most significantly the African Union’s Protocol to the Charter of Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which in its Article 5 calls on States to prohibit FGM with legislation backed by sanctions, and proceeded to underline the importance of taking action internationally and appealed to African states to taking an unequivocal and joint stance in favour of the adoption of a UN resolution banning FGM worldwide.
H.E. Mme Compaoré emphasized that a UNGA Resolution would bring attention to FGM as a human rights violation, and provide an important tool to combat it. A worldwide ban would also ensure the harmonization of legal tools and mechanisms against FGM not only in Africa but also in all countries affected by the practice.
We invite all citizens of the world to join all the brave activists who have dedicated their lives to this issue and demand, by signing the appeal on www.banfgm.org, that the United Nations take the steps to put an end to this human rights violation.
For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548-3915.
