Landmark
resolution calls on member states to condemn FGM and pass laws to protect girls
and women 'from this violence'
guardian.co.uk,
Associated Press, Tuesday 27 November 2012
 |
| A community clinic in Nepal: the World Health Organisation said about 6,000 girls are circumcised every day. Photograph: Graeme Robertson |
Campaigners
against female circumcision have scored a major victory with the approval by a
United Nations committee of a resolution calling for a global ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).
The
resolution, adopted by consensus by the UN general assembly's human rights
committee, calls the practice harmful and a serious threat to the
psychological, sexual and reproductive health of women and girls.
It calls on
the UN's 193 member states to condemn the practice and launch educational
campaigns for girls and boys, women and men, to eliminate it. It also urges all
countries to enact and enforce legislation to prohibit FGM, to protect women
and girls "from this form of violence" and to end impunity for
violators.
With 110
sponsors the resolution is virtually certain to be approved by the full general
assembly, which is expected to take it up in the second half of December.
Although not legally binding, assembly resolutions reflect international concerns
and carry moral and political weight.
Italy's UN
ambassador, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, who has been working with African partners
for a ban, called the resolution "a breakthrough in the international
campaign to end the harmful practice of FGM".
"I think
that together we can change the fate of many young girls around the world, and
today this goal appears closer than ever," he said. "The resolution,
in condemning the practice and promoting social and educational programmes, is
… the beginning of a new journey."
FGM is a
centuries-old practice used to control women's sexuality in some religions,
although both Muslim and Christian leaders have spoken out against it.
The
procedure involves the removal of the clitoris and sometimes also other genital
parts, usually in childhood or early adolescence. It can lead to infection,
painful sexual intercourse, complications in childbirth, and eliminates any
pleasure for women during sex.
The UN said
in 2010 that about 70 million girls and women had undergone the procedure, and
the World Health Organisation said about 6,000 girls were circumcised every
day.
According
to Amnesty International, FGM is commonplace in 28 countries in Africa as well
as in Yemen, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia and among certain ethnic groups in South
America, but it is also a worldwide concern because it is also practised by
some immigrant groups in diaspora communities.
José Luis
Diaz, Amnesty International's UN representative, said this was the first time
the general assembly's human rights committee has addressed the problem.
"FGM
is an indictment of us all that a girl or young woman can be held down and
mutilated is a violation of her human rights and, shockingly, an estimated 3
million girls are at risk each year," he said.
Alvilda Jablonko,
co-ordinator of the FGM programme at the organisation No Peace Without Justice,
applauded the committee's action as "a landmark step in the international
campaign to foster global leadership" in the campaign against the
practice.
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