Anti-FGM laws and court cases in Europe
Anti-FGM legislation and court cases in Europe, updated in 2021.
Anti-FGM legislation and court cases in Europe, updated in 2021.
Governments have signed international treaties obliging them to take action against FGM. Laws have been designed to be important tools to hold governments accountable for their obligations and duties under international law. However, members pointed out that although many African states have ratified international and regional human rights treaties addressing violence against women and girls, they do not always transpose them into national law and policy. Fatou Janssen witnesses the limits in the application of Maputo Protocol in Tanzania which has not taken the necessary measures to integrate it into national law.
EUROPE Fiona Coyle, director of the European Network End FGM shared their vision of legislation and prosecutions. “Legislation and prosecutions are important, but not always enough. Ending FGM should not only be about prosecution but also, and most importantly, about prevention and protection.” A few points; 1) Istanbul convention In 2011, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention) was signed by EU member states and has since been ratified by the majority. This is the first legally binding
Many countries have specific legislation against FGM.
LFGM is internationally recognized as a practice that violates human rights laws. A number of international conventions and declarations form the legal framework for the protection and promotion of women and girls’ human rights and are relevant to FGM: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
FGM is internationally recognized as a practice that violates human rights laws. A number of international conventions and declarations form the legal framework for the protection and promotion of women and girls’ human rights and are relevant to FGM.
Modou Lamin Davies: "Growing up in my community, I learnt to catcall women. Sometimes, adult men would send me to tell off women who ignored their advances or refused to obey their instructions. I remember thinking how strange it was to learn that at such an age. However, transitioning from primary to junior school I learnt more about masculinity and expectations on young adolescents."
What do men think about FGM? It is sometimes assumed that men benefit from FGM…
Female genital mutilation affects girls’ and women’s health and well-being. Unlike other types of gender-based violence, which are most often perpetuated by men, FGM is often performed by women in the family and/or community. Therefore, in the first programmes addressing FGM men were often sidelined.
On February 6th 2021, International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, AIDOS launched the animated video “Dynamics of a social norm: Female Genital Mutilation”. It is part of a series of videos aiming to understand why communities continue to perpetrate FGM, under what circumstances this practice continues to exist.