Ban FGM Campaign: The Belgian Senate hosts the launch of an Appeal calling for a Resolution by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012

 
 
On 3 May 2012, the International NGO Coalition for a worldwide ban on female genital mutilation launched, during an event hosted at the Senate of Belgium, an appeal to the United Nations for a Resolution that explicitly bans female genital mutilation worldwide and calls on all States to take all necessary legislative, political and operational measures aimed at ending the practice.
 
The event was held under the auspices of the Presidence of the Belgian Senate and with the presence of H.E. Mrs Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso, Goodwill Ambassador of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices and Coordinator of the International Ban FGM Campaign.
 

Isabelle Durant, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Emma Bonino, Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Gisèle Mandaila, Member of the Brussels Regional Parliament, Fatoumata Sidibé, Member of the Brussels Regional Parliament, Céline Van Neyverseel for Emir Kir, Minister of Social Action and Family COCOF, Ivan Hermans, Senior Policy and External Relations Advisor UNFPA, Mariam Lamizana, President of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices, Khady Koïta, President of La Palabre, and Els Leye, International Centre for Reproductive Health, and other prominent personalities who have been involved in efforts both in Belgium and internationally to bring an end to FGM were also among the speakers.

 
This Launch follows a series of events organized by the BanFGM Coalition in African capitals as well as at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and aims to involve Belgian and European political actors in support of the African initiative for a Resolution. A video marking highlights of the Campaign will be previewed.
 

• Photo gallery
• Program of the event: English, French

Media coverage

• Video by Agence Belga
• Pétition pour une résolution de l'ONU interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines, RTL / Belga, 3 Mai 2012
• Pétition contre les mutilations génitales féminines, RTBF / Belga, 3 May 2012
• ONU : une pétition pour une résolution interdisant l’excision, Le Vif L'Express / Belga, 3 Mai 2012
• Mutilazioni genitali femminili, campagna per una Risoluzione Onu entro il 2012, EU News, 3 maggio 2012
• Lancement d’une campagne internationale pour l’interdiction des MGF, jeudi à Bruxelles, Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (APS), 30 avril 2012

 
 
Ban FGM Campaign
The International NGO Coalition for a worldwide ban on female genital mutilation has been campaigning since 2010 for the United Nations General Assembly to adopt a Resolution banning the practice. Such a Resolution would provide the highest-level expression of political will and be an essential step towards ending this violation of human rights. 
Following the decision by the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March 2012 recommending that the General Assembly consider the issue of female genital mutilation at its 67th session later this year, the African Group at the UN is currently spearheading the effort to draft a Resolution.
In support of the African Group’s effort to ensure the effectiveness of the Resolution as an instrument for governments and activists working to bring an end to this human rights violation, the Ban FGM Coalition is launching an appeal to the United Nations for a Resolution that explicitly bans female genital mutilation worldwide, and calling on all States to adopt and implement legislation to ban female genital mutilation and to take all necessary legislative, political and operational measures aimed at ending the practice.
 
For more information, contact Alvilda Jablonko, Coordinator of the FGM Program, on ajablonko@npwj.org / phone: +32 (0)2 548-39 13 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32 (0)2 548-39 15.