UN CSW: The Ban FGM Coalition in New York to call for the adoption of a UN General Assembly Resolution in 2012

28 Feb, 2012 | Press Releases

New York, 28 February 2012
During the first week of the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and several African partners of the Ban FGM Coalition will carry out direct advocacy and visibility initiatives, among which a High Level Parallel Event held in New York on 27 February 2012, in support of the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) and the international campaign to promote the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution that universally and explicitly bans FGM. The meeting held at Ministerial level has been co-chaired by Mariam Lamizana, President of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Harmful Practices (IAC), and by Hon. Emma Bonino, Vice-President of the Italian Senate, and opened by Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women and closed by H.E. Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso, Coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban FGM Worldwide.Later reaffirmed in United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s Report “Ending Female Genital Mutilation,” released in January of this year, the critical need for a common and systematic approach to address FGM as a violation of human rights was initially recognized in the Decision of the Assembly of the African Union during its 17th session in Malabo, in July 2011. This historic Decision expressed the strong support of the African Union and its member States for the adoption of a Resolution to ban FGM worldwide at the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The 56th session of the UN CSW will provide a key moment for NPWJ and its partners, Ministers, Parliamentarians and civil society activists, who have been at the forefront of the Ban FGM Campaign in their respective countries and worldwide, to further advocate for a strong commitment by all governments and the international community to support the adoption in 2012 of a UNGA Resolution. This will contribute significantly to a global recognition of FGM as a human rights violation against millions of women around the world, and ultimately, to bringing an end to this violence.

Representatives of the coalition for the Ban FGM campaign, coming from 14 African countries, will take part to the CSW:

  • Mariam Lamizana (Burkina Faso, President of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Harmful Practices (IAC), former Minister of Social Action and National Solidarity of Burkina Faso)
  • Khady Koita (Senegal, one of the most active anti-FGM militant, author of the book “Mutilated “, founder and president of La Palabre, awarded this year with the Rome Prize for Peace and Humanitarian Action)
  • Morissanda Kouyaté (Guinea, head of operation of IAC)
  • Imam Djiguiba Cisse (President of Fondation Djigui, La Grande Espérance, Côte d’Ivoire)
  • Isatou Touray (Executive Director of the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children  – GAMCOTRAP)
  • Florence Ali (President of the he Ghana Association for Women Welfare – GAWW),
  • Phyllis Nguma-Kimba (Director of NATPAH / IAC, Liberia)
  • Hon. Demba Traore (Secretary-General of the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty, Rapporteur on FGM Parliamentary Bill, Mali)
  • Marieme Baba Sy (member of AWAARD, Former Minister of Social Affairs, Childhood and the Family of Mauritania)
  • Fatouma Boubé (Niger, President of CONIPRAT)
  • Rahim Kamara (Sierra Leone, Director of the organization Manifesto 99)
  • Martha Priscilla Chigozie (founder and chief executive director of Thorough Empowerment and Development for Women and Girls – TEDEWOSIL, Sierra Leone)
  • Assibi Napoe, President of CIAF-Togo
  • Béatrice Chelangat (Uganda, coordinator of REACH-Uganda).

Documentation:

Ban FGM Campaign
No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), in coalition with the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, Euronet-FGM and the Senegalese NGO La Palabre, have cooperated closely on several initiatives to foster support for the adoption of UNGA Resolution banning FGM as a human rights violation. The campaign has gained the support of human rights activists, women’s organisations, parliamentarians and government representatives from throughout Africa and Europe.

For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org or Nicola Giovannini, email: ngiovannini@npwj.org, phone: +32 2 548 39 15. Check also the websites: www.npwj.org and www.banfgm.org

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