Int'l conference calls for more efforts to ban female genital mutilation
www.chinaview.cn [www.chinaview.cn] 2004-09-17 01:54:44
NAIROBI, Sept. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- An international conference on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) opened in Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday with participants from around the globe calling for more efforts to get the practice banned.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called for in a speech, delivered by the Vice President Moody Awori, the international commitment toeradicating the practice.
"We must encourage those nations who have not yet implemented anti-FGM legislation to do so as a matter of urgency. We must continue our efforts to stop those who would continue the practice in the face of the prohibitive legislation," Kibaki said.
Meanwhile, Waris Dirie, the United Nations Population Fund goodwill ambassador, said the "in all cases, FGM victims are scarred for life. This amounts to an extremely serious human rights and medical violation. That is why stiffer sentences should be imposed to serve as a deterrent."
Reports say that some 135 million women and girls across the world have undergone the practice, in which parts of the female genital organs are removed and some two million girls, mainly in Africa, undergo the procedure every year.
The three-day conference is aimed at reviewing existing program approaches and strengthening structures of implementing the plans of action on the eradication of FGM, according to the organizers of the conference -- No Peace without Justice (NPWJ) and the Kenyan government.
Some 400 delegates, including affected persons, former circumcisers, doctors, teachers, judges, government officials as well as cultural and religious community leaders, from around 40 countries worldwide have come to attend the conference.
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