On the occasion of the 30th African Union Summit held in Addis Ababa on 28-29 January 2018, a delegation of No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and its partners, represented by their regional network, CIAF, conducted an advocacy mission to report on the progress and outcomes of the project “Ban FGM: for the elimination of female genital mutilation” (2014-2018), which was made possible by the strong political and financial support of the Italian Government.

The project aims at promoting implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution adopted in December 2012 and further reinforced in 2014, which call for a worldwide ban on female genital mutilation. In particular, this initiative was developed to promote implementation of laws banning this human rights violation, by strengthening the political and institutional framework in accordance with the provisions of the Resolution in seven West African target countries, namely Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.

The political commitment of the African Union and its member states in the fight against FGM has been essential over the years, notably with the adoption in 2003 of the Maputo Protocol which states in article 5 that “States shall prohibit and condemn all forms of harmful practice which negatively affect the human rights of women and which are contrary to recognized international standards”. The African union also played a key role with the adoption in 2011 of Assembly’s Decision Assembly/AU/12(XVII) Add.5, in which of Heads of State and Government expressly engaged their New York representations to promote a UN General Assembly resolution including a worldwide ban on FGM.

The purpose of the advocacy mission conducted by NPWJ and its partners was to recognise this leadership role of the African Union in the efforts conducted at political level to stamp out this harmful practice. It also provided the opportunity to recognise the outgoing President of the African Union H.E. Alpha Conde, President of the Republic of Guinea and H.E. Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of the Republic of Burkina Faso for their commitment for the elimination of FGM and child marriage in Africa through a Prize of Political Excellence and High Level Leadership in Africa, and advocate for renewed engagement of AU Member States and the AU Commission in support of national holistic strategies to ban FGM, and all harmful traditional practices, which are a violation of the right to personal integrity throughout Africa and the world.

• BANFGM project for the elimination of female genital mutilation (2014-2018) (Report Submitted to the attention of Member States and participants at the 30th African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa)
• Ban FGM Campaign
• NPWJ FGM Program activities
• Read the UN Resolution (A/RES/67/146) in: English , French

For more information, contact Nicola Giovannini, email: ngiovannini@npwj.org.