Expert Meeting & Discussion on the Abandonment of FGM - What is the Role of Parliamentarians?

Abandoning Female Genital Mutilation Worldwide Requires More Parliamentary Action 19 June, The Hague Hundreds of millions of young girls worldwide suffer from the brutal practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a tradition which goes against the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In Africa only, it is estimated that more than 90 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM. Recent studies show that it is also practiced in the majority of Middle Eastern countries, but sufficient data for this region is lacking. Proper data collection is vital in order to address the problem in the future. Members of the Dutch Parliament, led by Hon Kathleen Ferrier, came together with Dutch-based organisations, the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) and the Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries (Hivos), to revive the political debate among policy makers and parliamentarians about the abandonment of FGM and to unmask its inaccuracies. During her closing remarks Ms. Ferrier stressed the fruitful cooperation she had with her colleagues during her years as Member of Parliament in putting FGM and broader gender issues on the political agenda. As this was one of her last public meetings in parliament, she used this moment to call on her current colleagues and future MPs to continue the hard work, and formalise the cooperation on gender issues. The MPs present responded positively to this call and agreed to keep gender issues on the political agenda. Read more. The expert meeting titled, The Abandonment of FGM: What is the Role of Parliamentarians?, was held in the House of Representatives in the Dutch Parliament. The event was organised by The Netherlands Section of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA), AWEPA International, and, the Humanist Institute for Co-operation with Developing Countries (HIVOS), The event was made possible by the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO). For more information on the activity, please see documents below. Resources Concept Note Programme Press Release: "Abandoning Female Genital Mutilation Worldwide Requires more Parliamentary Action" Report: Expert meeting on the abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation. What Can Parliamentarians Do? Presentations Ban FGM Worldwide - Ms. Magda de MEYER FGM and Child Marriage: Parliamentary Leadership toward Social Change - Dr. Jeff BALCH FGM in Iraq: An empirical study in Kirkuk Province - Mr. Thomas von der Osten-Sacken Pictures of the event Press 19 June: Expert Meeting FGM/C in MENA Region [Dutch] Expert Meeting on FGM CDA: Expertmeeting vrouwenbesnijdenis 19 juni ism US Embassy, HIVOS & AWEPA Abandoning Female Genital Mutilation Worldwide Requires more Parliamentary Action Nieuws Hivos: Abandoning Female Genital Mutilation Worldwide Requires more Parliamentary Action For more information on AWEPA's FGM programme, click here.


AWEPA Activities: Gender Programme

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