The parliamentary Workshop “Female Genital Mutilation and the Law”, organised jointly by 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, concluded yesterday with the adoption of a Final Declaration stressing the need to enact a specific and effective law banning Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) within a year in Mauritania and to foster a worldwide mobilisation contributing to the elimination of FGM as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.
The workshop, which was held on 3-4 February at the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, was attended by parliamentarians, representatives from civil society and relevant government ministries. Its scope was 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.
Among its main recommendations, the Final Declaration calls not only for the adoption of effective national legislation banning FGM in all countries where it is practised, but also to work towards their harmonisation so that their scope and the sanctions they foresee are analogous, in order to tackle the increasingly cross-border aspect of the practice. A the international level, parliamentarians call on the Mauritanian authorities to fully support the campaign for the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations specifically focused on the banning of FGM and call on all other States concerned to do the same.
Statement by Sergio Stanzani and Niccoló Figa-Talamanca, President and Secretary-General of No Peace Without Justice:
“No Peace Without Justice should congratulate Dr. Mariame Baba Sy, President of AMPSFE, Hon. Babah Ould Ahmed Babou, Cordinator of the Mauritanian Network of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, and Hon. El Arbi Ould Sidi Ali, First Vice President of the National Assembly and welcomes the recommendations endorsed by the parliamentarians participating to the workshop who, on the eve of the International Day for “Zero Tolerance” on FGM, recognized the importance of having effective national legislation banning FGM. As the Final Declaration states, we must also urge all affected States to take a leading and active role in the drafting and advocacy for a United Nations General Assembly Resolution that specifically and exclusively focuses on FGM. Such a UN resolution will help to create the foundations of a real and strong international alliance to defeat FGM once and for all”.
Documents (in French):
Final Declaration
Workshop Program
Workshop Presentation
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
