No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Mauritanian Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (AMPSFE – IAC Mauritania), together with the Mauritanian Network of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, are convening a parliamentary Workshop “Female Genital Mutilation and the Law”, in Nouakchott, on 3-4 February 2010, bringing together Members of the Parliament of Mauritania with representatives from the judiciary, civil society, and relevant government ministries to mobilize political and parliamentary will towards the development of legislation banning Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The workshop aims to provide Parliamentarians the opportunity to take part in a comprehensive conversation on strategies and best practices in the fight against FGM, with the objective of evaluating and discussing a bill currently in development to prohibit female genital mutilation in Mauritania. While a law has been in place since 2005, it only calls for sanctions if there is ‘injury’ to the victim, thus ignoring the fact that FGM is always a violation of human rights, whether or not accompanied by immediate medical complications.
Mauritania has ratified a number of the international and regional conventions and instruments that have relevant provisions and commitments to promote and protect the human rights of women. Thus the moment is ripe for reform of existing laws or enactment of new laws to protect women and girls from harmful practices that violate their human rights.
The Parliamentarian Workshop represents an important step towards the full-fledged involvement of Mauritania in the fight against FGM, also at the Regional and International level, as it shows the commitment of a wide spectrum of stakeholders to take action, demonstrate political will and push for concrete steps to bring an end to FGM.
For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org / phone: +222 770 4557 / +32 494 533 915 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548-39 14. Check also our website: www.npwj.org
