FGM: No Peace Without Justice organises parliamentary workshop in Djibouti on the law against Female Genital Mutilation

Press release in Italian
 
Tomorrow a workshop sponsored by the international association No Peace Without Justice and the National Union of Djibouti Women will open in the Parliament of Djibouti with the aim to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of the law which prohibits female genital mutilation.

The Republic of Djibouti has for many years been at the forefront in the fight against female genital mutilation and for the promotion and protection of women’s rights as a whole.
The law banning the practice of FGM dates back to 1995 and since then the political willingness to intensify efforts for the abandonment of FGM has been repeatedly reaffirmed at the highest level, in particular through the declaration of His Excellency the President of the Republic on 8 March 2004 and 2005 and especially with the ratification of the Maputo Protocol on women's rights in Africa. The Protocol has been ratified at the conclusion of the Sub-Regional Conference "Towards a political and religious consensus on the Elimination of FGM", held in Djibouti on 2 and 3 February 2005 and organized by No Peace Without Justice in collaboration with the Government and under the auspices of the First Lady Ms Kadri Mahamoud Haid.

The seminar is unprecedented in Djibouti, as it is the first time that the legislative initiative on such a sensitive issue is taken by parliamentarians. The meeting falls within the National Strategy initiated in 2006 by the Ministry for the Advancement of Women which has recently established a process of revision of Article 7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This process of revision is intended to facilitate the capacity of organisations - such as Associations of Defence of Djibouti Women – to initiate civil action proceedings and denounce violence for which the victims themselves are not in condition to ensure recourse to justice. This approach is particularly valuable in the fight against FGM as it is a violation that, since the law was adopted, has provided no recourse to justice while the practice remains widespread.
 
The seminar will be chaired by the President of the Parliament of Djibouti and will be conducted through sessions dealing with different aspects related to the fight against FGM: legal / legislative tools, role of religion, education and health services. Participants will include representatives of the Ministry for the Advancement of Women, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Religious Affairs, judges of the Supreme Court and representatives of the Inter-African Committee on harmful traditional practices, No Peace Without Justice and the National Union of Djibouti Women.
 
The work will be recorded by Radio Radicale and will be available on the website: www.radioradicale.it
 
Program of the Workshop
 
Background information
 
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)2 548-3914 .