CAIRO: Egypt's Minister of Family and Population, Moshira Khattab, along with a number of leading high profile female figures around the world, signed an international appeal for a United Nations resolution to ban female genital mutilation (FGM). “We, the undersigned human rights activists and citizens worldwide, joining together after years of struggle for female genital mutilation to be recognized and condemned as a violation to the human right to physical integrity, and conscious that a United Nations ban will give new strength and impetus to the efforts that are still needed to end the practice worldwide,” read their appeal. The appeal has three clauses; calling upon the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly to adopt a resolution to ban female genital mutilation worldwide, calling upon all governments and upon all international and regional organizations to support and promote the adoption of this resolution in 2010. And finally, they invite all citizens of the world to support this initiative and sign the appeal to put an end to this widespread and systematic form of violence committed against women and girls, in violation of their fundamental right to physical and personal integrity. Alongside Khattab, the appeal's leading advocates include the first ladies of Italy, Benin, GuineaBissau, Uganda and Burkina Faso. Jordan's Minister of Justice and the Iraqi Minister of Science and Technology are also supporters, as well as Mauritania's Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Inter-African Committee. There are a number of important international human rights instruments under which FGM is considered a violation, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the Rights of the Child and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, known as the Maputo Protocol. Even though these international agreements ban the practice of FGM, having a UN resolution is crucial for a number of reasons as noted by the campaign, first of which is that it will be the first resolution that specifically addresses and bans FGM worldwide. It will reinforce the importance of previous steps by United Nations organizations towards FGM as well as showing a clear commitment and political will to ban it as human rights violations at the highest levels. As the UN adopts such a resolution, it will be giving support to countries that are struggling to put an end to this human rights violation by giving impetus to efforts to improve national anti-FGM law or to adopt one in the first place. It will also be a worldwide prohibition of FGM as a violation of universal human rights and violation of the physical and psychological integrity of women and girls, and if the UN recognizes it as a violation and puts a resolution to ban it will be underscoring the gravity and the impact that female genital mutilation has on the lives of millions of people around the world, particularly the women and girls of Africa. Finally, by having a UN resolution banning FGM “it will encourage the ratification and implementation of international and regional conventions that recognize [FGM] as a human rights violation. Africa has already voiced its commitment regionally through the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa: the countries of the continent are best placed to take the lead for the next step at the international level, in the United Nations General Assembly,” read the appeal. As part of the campaign, the ministers, parliamentarians, activists and renowned figures will work on informing and raising awareness among the UN member states, UN agencies and human rights activists about FGM and about the pivotal role the UN General Assembly has in combating this human rights violation by banning it worldwide. Furthermore, they will also campaign in their countries in order to get their governments to support the UN ban. The advocacy efforts have been taken to the UN headquarters in New York to work with countries' missions to ensure that the spotlight remain on FGM and the need for a resolution that bans the practice. “A resolution with an explicit ban on female genital mutilation will help to complete the shift of perspectives on FGM from a problem of ‘public health' or a ‘cultural' problem, to its universal recognition as a human rights violation and a form of violence against women,” read a statement on the campaign's official website.
