On 27-29 December 2016, No Peace Without Justice, in partnership with the Fondation Djigui la Grande Espérance and the Inter-African Committee for Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC), convened a national workshop in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, aimed at fostering the implementation of of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 69/150 calling for a worldwide ban on female genital mutilation).

The workshop was organised with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Islamic Development Bank. Participants included representatives from the Ministry of Women Promotion, Family and ChildhoodProtection, the National Committee of Human Rights (Commission Nationale des Droits de l’Homme en Côte d’Ivoire  -CNDHCI), the National Committee on Violence committed against Women and Children (Comité National de Lutte contre les Violences faites aux Femmes et aux Enfants – CNLVFE), civil society activists and women’s rights groups as well as the public at large.

This event aimed to strengthen awareness-raising and advocacy activities about the implications of the UNGA resolution both among representatives of the government, civil society organisations and other key actors involved in the fight against FGM, and to ensure its effective application. The workshop had also among its specific objectives to discuss and analyse the local mechanisms designed to protect women and girls against FGM, to identify adequate measures to improve existing strategies addressing violations of the prohibition of FGM and to strengthen the capacity of the police, gendarmerie and the judiciary in ensuring compliance with the law.

Despite the years of awareness campaigns to promote the elimination of FGM, prevalence in Ivory Coast remains at 38 %, according to the 2011-2012 National Demographic and Health Survey. The fight against this human rights violation requires enhanced cooperation and synergy of action among all institutions and civil society organisations focused on FGM, including work to prevent and condemn the rise of the medicalisation of FGM, as well as the strict and effective enforcement of the 1998 law prohibiting FGM, to protect its victims and to hold perpetrators to account.

Press Coverage:

• Élimination des mutilations génitales féminines en Côte d’Ivoire: La Fondation Djigui la grande espérance vulgarise la résolution A/REJ/69/150 de l’ONU, par Kone Martin, Ivoir Inter 24, 2 janvier 2017
• Côte d’Ivoire: La fondation DJIGUI vers une élimination des Mutilations Génitales Féminines, par Ciss Toum, Ivoir Inter 24, 28 décembre 2016
• La fondation DJIGUI fait son plaidoyer pour des actions efficaces contre les mutilations génitales féminines, Joël DALLY, Info Directe, 27 décembre 2016

Documentation:

• Final report of the event (in French)
• Ban FGM Campaign
• NPWJ Gender & Human Rights Program activities

For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the Gender and Human Rights Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org, phone: +32 494 533 915 or Nicola Giovannini, email: ngiovannini@npwj.org, phone: +32 2 548 39 15.