On Thursday, 15 April, No Peace Without Justice organised a meeting with Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Mr Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, and leading human rights NGOs to discuss the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and the fight against impunity, as well as peace and security worldwide.

The meeting, which was hosted by Niccolo’ Figa’-Talamanca, NPWJ Secretary-General, in NPWJ’s Brussels office, saw the participation of saw the participation of representatives from the Nonviolent Radical Transnational Party, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, the European Partnership for Democracy, and Reporters Without Borders.

Statement by Sergio Stanzani and Niccoló Figa-Talamanca, President and Secretary-General of No Peace Without Justice:

“No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) are honored to have had the opportunity to host this meeting of Oscar Fernandez-Taranco. The fact that he took time to meet with representatives of leading human rights NGOs as part of his trip to Brussels is a testament to the commitment of the UN, and the Department of Political Affairs, to the rule of law, justice and human rights.

NPWJ took the opportunity to present its ongoing international campaign aimed at promoting the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution to explicitly ban female genital mutilation (FGM) by the end of the year.

Throughout 2010, NPWJ will conduct activities to mobilize the most committed parliamentarians and women’s rights activists from Africa, Europe and other affected countries, in order to generate wide political support for the UNGA Resolution by the largest number of States.

We also hope to count on a strong involvement of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in the framework of this campaign which will be carried out in close cooperation with Missions of countries affected by FGM and UN Specialized Agencies committed to combat the practice (particularly UNFPA, UNIFEM, UNICEF and WHO).”

For further information, contact Nicola Giovannini onngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-39 15.