On 8 March2013, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) contributed to the High Level Panel on “Harmful Traditional Practices – Violence Against Women & Girls”, which was hosted by the Permanent Representation of Germany to the UN and Forward Germany, in observance of the International Women’s Day.
The purpose of the meeting, which was organised on the margins of the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, was to discuss measures and strategies to be implemented in order to address harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage, which constitute a violation of human rights committed against millions of women and girls worldwide.
Alvilda Jablonko, FGM Program Coordinator of NPWJ, highlighted the significance of the recent United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/146, adopted on 20 December 2012 and calling for a Worldwide Ban on Female genital mutilation. The resolution, whose adoption is the culmination of years of advocacy efforts conducted by an ever-expanding coalition of NGOs and human rights activists including No Peace Without Justice, calls on all states to address and prevent this human rights violation 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”.
It is now imperative that governments and civil society around the world take urgent action to ensure that this breakthrough document realises 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.
- Flyer of the event
- Ban FGM Campaign
- Read the UN Resolution.
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.
