Worldwide, in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and beyond, women are increasingly at the forefront of the battle to defend human rights and for the recognition of broader political and social rights for themselves and their communities at large. On this International Women’s Day, No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) recommits to stand side by side with them in the struggle to secure the full recognition of their human rights.
Women’s rights are human rights, not a special category to be addressed only in the context of specialized frameworks. The role of women in society is crucial and fundamental, a fact particularly in evidence these days as they join in the momentous transformations underway from Iraq to Tunisia.
NPWJ works to mobilise civil society actors, parliamentarians and activists from Africa, the Middle East and Europe to advocate for the full recognition and protection of women’s rights as universal human rights. NPWJ is at the forefront of the International Campaign for the adoption of a Resolution by the United Nations General Assembly to explicitly ban female genital mutilation (FGM), working together with human rights activists, women’s organizations, parliamentarians and government representatives from throughout Africa and Europe. FGM, a violation of the right to physical integrity perpetrated on millions of women and girls worldwide, must be combated with the whole arsenal of legal tools available in the defense of human rights, at the national, regional and international levels. NPWJ also continues to work with its partners to reinforce the voices of women in the Middle East and North Africa, from Morocco to Iran.
On International Women’s Day, NPWJ wants to extend a special salute and recognition to those democracy advocates and human rights defenders who are engaged in the daily struggle – from Senegal to Somalia – to combat FGM and promote legal reform to ban the practice; and to those women that from Tunisia to Iran have day after day face the challenges of political transformation and social revolutions.
We invite all citizens of the world to support the BanFGM Campaign and sign the appeal on www.banfgm.org
For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548-3915.
