Successful conclusion of the high-level conference organised by No Peace Without Justice in Ouagadougou: "Towards a global ban of FGM: a goal that we can achieve"

Press release in Italian, French
 
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The High-Level Meeting “From Cairo to Ouagadougou: Towards a Global Ban of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)”, organised jointly by the Government of Burkina Faso, through the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity, and the international NGO No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), with the support of the Italian Cooperation and in partnership with UNOPS, concluded today with the adoption by consensus of a Final Declaration stressing the need to foster a transnational political mobilisation for the elimination of FGM.

The high-level meeting was held under the patronage of the First Lady of Burkina Faso, H.E. Mrs Chantal Compaoré, and attended by ministers, parliamentarians and civil society representatives from 13 West African countries concerned by the practice, as well as Djibouti, Uganda, and Egypt. Its scope was to take stock of the positive developments that have been achieved in many countries and to discuss the important next steps that need to be taken towards a global ban on FGM as a violation of the human rights of women and girls.
 
Among its main recommendations, the Final Declaration calls not only for the adoption of effective national legislation banning FGM in all countries where it is practised, but also to work towards their harmonisation so that their scope and the sanctions they foresee are analogous, in order to tackle the increasingly cross-border aspect of the practice. Addressing  FGM within the sub-regional and regional context, and not only at an isolated national level, is of fundamental importance.
 
Statement by Emma Bonino, Vice President of the Italian Senate and founder of No Peace Without Justice:

"One of the essential outcomes of this meeting is the recognition that the importance of having effective national legislation banning FGM is now accepted. Given the encouraging advances that have occurred in this regard over the past five years, we must spur greater and more cohesive political mobilisation among activists, parliamentarians and governments in order to devise coordinated and harmonised strategies and legislative policies against FGM. As the Final Declaration states, we must also urge all affected States to take a leading and active role in the drafting and advocacy for a United Nations General Assembly Resolution that specifically and exclusively focuses on FGM. Such a UN resolution will help to create the foundations of a real and strong international alliance to defeat FGM once and for all”.
 
For further information, please contact: Nicola Giovannini, email: ngiovannini@npwj.org - tel: + 32 2 548 39 14.