History

The commitment of NPWJ against the practice FGM dates to 2000 when, at the initiative of Emma Bonino, at that time Member of the European Parliament, a resolution denouncing FGM was adopted, which led to the organisation of the Conference “International Day Against FGM” at the European Parliament in November of the same year, an event that attracted significant media attention.

 

 

The impact of this first public meeting led NPWJ to launch a specific project focused on FGM, in partnership with AIDOS (Italian Association for Women in Development) and seven other NGOs from Africa and the Middle East. The project, “Stop FGM: an International Campaign to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation”, was designed to sensitise public opinion, train FGM abandonment experts and trainers and strengthen existing anti-FGM legislation in Africa.

 

As part of this campaign, on 10 December 2002, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, NPWJ organised a major international conference at the European Parliament in Brussels calling on global leaders and Nobel laureates to take a leadership role in the campaign against FGM. This event launched the “StopFGM Appeal to the International Community for the elimination of FGM”, which was subsequently published in several national and international newspapers and magazines and signed by more than 20,000 people world-wide.

 

On 21-23 June 2003, NPWJ organised the International Conference in Cairo on “Legal Tools for the Prevention of FGM” together with AIDOS and Egyptian NGO partners. The conference was held under the auspices of H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, First Lady of Egypt, and was organised in cooperation with the National Committee for Maternity and Childhood, with the participation of representatives and experts of governments, parliaments and civil society from 27 countries. The International Conference in Cairo was a turning point in the “Stop FGM” campaign. Its final declaration, adopted by all participants, unanimously condemned this harmful practice, calling on governments, national and international organisations, civil society actors and religious leaders to confirm their resolve to promote legal tools as a key instrument for the prevention of the practice. It also emphasised the strategic importance of communication, education and political commitment to increase awareness on the serious damaging consequences that the practice of FGM has on women’s health, stating that it shatters women's dignity and that it is a flagrant violation of fundamental women's rights enshrined in international treaties.

 

In this phase the campaign was co-financed by the European Union, the Open Society Institute, UNIFEM, UNFPA, the personal contribution of Ms Elsa Peretti and by other donors.

 

 

Three weeks after the adoption of the "Cairo Declaration on the elimination of FGM", the second summit of the African Union in Mozambique adopted on 11 July 2003 an additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights: the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

 

The Protocol is a regional human rights instrument underlining the specific measures for the elimination of discrimination against women, that addresses a wide range of women’s rights, including the right to dignity, to life, integrity and security of the person, to the elimination of harmful traditional practices, the protection of women during armed conflict, to education and training, to economic and social welfare, and to health and reproductive rights. Crucially, and as a result of the work of key FGM activists in the political process, the Protocol includes Article 5, which explicitly condemns FGM as a violation of women’s rights for which specific prohibitive legislative measures are required of ratifying states.

 

In 2004, NPWJ launched a new program within the framework of its “Stop FGM” Campaign to support the entry into force and the implementation of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, as part of the development of a political, legal and social environment favourable to the abandonment of FGM. The campaign was conducted in partnership with both Governments, Parliamentarians and civil society throughout Africa,  in particular the Association of Media Women In Kenya (AMWIK), the Djibouti National Women’s Union, the Association Malienne pour le Suivi et l’Orientation des Pratiques Traditionnelles (AMSOPT), the European Network against Harmful Traditional Practices, and in cooperation with RAINBO, AIDOS, TOSTAN and UNICEF.

 

On 16-18 September 2004, NPWJ and AMWIK organised in partnership with the Government of Kenya an international conference in Nairobi, on “Female Genital Mutilation: Developing a Political, Legal and Social Environment to Implement the Maputo Protocol”. The conference concluded with the firm commitment of the Government of Kenya (at the highest level) to ratify and implement the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Participating government and civil society delegations unanimously adopted the Nairobi Declaration, affirming their willingness to take all necessary steps to adopt national legislation implementing the provision of the Protocol as an important component of the development of a political, legal and social environment to stop the practice of FGM.

 

On 2-3 February 2005, NPWJ and the Djibouti National Women’s Union organised in partnership with the Government of Djibouti a sub-regional conference in Djibouti, entitled "Towards a Political and Religious Consensus Against Female Genital Mutilation". The Conference, attended by governmental representatives, parliamentarians, civil society exponents as well as by the highest Islamic religious authorities from Djibouti and countries of the Sub-Region, concluded with the unanimous adoption of the Djibouti Declaration which states that FGM is a violation of human rights which finds no religious basis in the Qur'an - as well as in other revealed religions (Christianity and Judaism) - to justify its perpetuation, and recommends the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa by all AU-member countries. At the conclusion of the Conference, the First Minister of Djibouti also delivered the instrument of ratification of the Protocol to the representative of the African Union.

 

On 29 November 2005, following the deposit of the fifteenth ratification, the Protocol entered into force, and NPWJ focussed its campaign on expanding the ratifying base of the Protocol to countries that had not ratified, as well as on working towards the adoption of national implementing legislation.

 

On 21 and 22 February 2006, NPWJ and AMSOPT organised, in collaboration with the Government of Mali, through the Ministry for the Promotion of Woman, Childhood and Family, in Bamako, Mali a “Sub-Regional Conference on Female Genital Mutilation and the implementation of the Maputo Protocol”. The Conference, attended by representatives of governments, parliaments and civil society from Mali as well as countries of the Sub-Region (including Benin, Burkina-Faso, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Togo), provided an occasion to highlight the existing consensus within the Sub-Region around the ratification of the Protocol and to discuss effective application of its obligations through the adoption at national level of legislative measures aimed at bringing an end to FGM.

 

This phase of the campaign was co-financed by the Government of Italy, via UNICEF, as well as by the Governments of Austria, Canada, France, Germany (GTZ), Norway, The Netherlands and Sweden, as well as CARE, PLAN, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, USAID, WHO, the World Bank, the European Commission and the Sigrid Rausing Trust.

 

 

 

In parallel to its activities carried out in Africa, NPWJ has also campaigned for the adoption of effective FGM legislative and other measures in Europe, and in particular in Italy.

 

In particular, beginning in 2002, NPWJ facilitated the consultation process that has led to the presentation and then the adoption of specific FGM legislation by the Italian Parliament. The Italian FGM legislation campaign was conducted by promoting several meetings involving associations of African women, political figures and experts and researchers on FGM, to foster, alongside the legislative process, a broad and comprehensive debate on the problem.

 

The adoption the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa has provided an important political impulse for action, demonstrating that the fight against FGM is not a Euro-centric or exclusively NGO-driven priority: quite the opposite, the text was the result of a political commitment of African Governments. Immediately following its entry into force, NPWJ organised a major meeting in the Italian Parliament in December 2005, which involved Government Representatives of all countries that had ratified the Protocol, leaders of immigrants communities involved in the fight against the practice of FGM, Italian Parliamentarians and the media, which resulted in a broad parliamentary consensus that quickly translated in the adoption of specific FGM legislation in January 2006. The text of the law, in addition to detailing the sanctions foreseen for those who practice FGM on Italian soil, calls for specific programs in multiple spheres - medical, social, educational and international - aimed at preventing the practice and providing public information. NPWJ is now engaged with the relevant Ministries to support the inclusion of stakeholders from Italian and European immigrant communities who are engaged in the effort to end the practice of FGM in the process of developing guidelines for the application of the law.