On the occasion of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), to be held in New York on 4 – 15 March 2013, the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) have submitted a written statement stressing the landmark step represented by the resolution calling for a worldwide ban on female genital mutilation (A/RES/67/146), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2012.
The formal adoption of this breakthrough document is the result of years of advocacy efforts to bring worldwide attention to the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM), spearheaded by an ever-expanding Ban FGM Coalition, composed of No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC), Euronet-FGM, and the NGOs La Palabre, Manifesto 99 and Equality Now. Its adoption reflects universal agreement that female genital mutilation constitutes a violation of human rights, which all countries of the world should address and prevent through “all necessary measures, including enacting and enforcing legislation to prohibit FGM and to protect women and girls from this form of violence, and to end impunity”.
A delegation of No Peace Without Justice and the Ban FGM Coalition will also take part to the work of the CSW 57th session to further advance the cause of the UNGA resolution whose full and complete implementation, as highlighted by the final declaration of the high-level meeting held in Rome on 4-5 February 2013, requires the political engagement of all countries of the world, starting from those affected by the practice.
The majority of countries in the world lack legislation to protect women and girls from FGM; where laws have been enacted, political will to implement them effectively seldom follows. It is now important to ensure that the Resolution realise its full potential as a concrete tool in the fight against FGM and that it truly strengthens efforts aimed at the elimination of FGM once and for all.
- UNGA Resolution (A/RES/67/146) adopted on 20 December 2012
- Final Declaration of the high-level meeting held in Rome on 4-5 february 2013: English, French, Italian
- Ban FGM Campaign
For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini, email: ngiovannini@npwj.org, phone: +32 2 548 39 15.
