SECRETARY-GENERAL HOPES FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION 'WILL BE BUT A MEMORY', PROMISES TO ENSURE ISSUE REMAINS ON INTERNATIONAL AGENDA
Press Release
SG/SM/6602
WOM/1052
SECRETARY-GENERAL HOPES FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION 'WILL BE BUT A MEMORY', PROMISES TO ENSURE ISSUE REMAINS ON INTERNATIONAL AGENDA
19980618 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement at the opening of the meeting on "Culture, Education and Female Circumcision", delivered on his behalf by his Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Angela King, on Monday, 15 June:It gives me pleasure to greet all who have gathered for this meeting to discuss "culture, education and female circumcision". I would like to express my appreciation to the Government and Permanent Mission of Uganda, the Women's Federation for World Peace, the Family Federation for World Peace, Unification International, and other sponsors for their role in making this meeting possible, and in particular for focusing attention on a subject of such great importance.
During this decade, female genital mutilation has been recognized by the international community as a profound violation of the human rights of women.
The 1993 Declaration on Violence against Women included female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women within the definition of violence against women. The Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 called on governments to prohibit female genital mutilation wherever it occurs and to support efforts by non-governmental and community organizations and religious institutions to eliminate it.
The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action reiterated the international community's determination to eradicate the practice, recommending that governments enact and enforce legislation to address it.
And in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) issued a landmark joint statement that described the practice and why it occurs, detailed its devastating effects, and outlined strategies to eliminate it. Later that year, the UNFPA appointed a special ambassador, Waris Dirie, a young woman of courage and herself a victim of the practice, to speak out against female genital mutilation.
But the international community's approach to this issue has not always been so robust. Although raised by the Commission on Human Rights as long ago
as 1952, and although it has been the subject of studies and workshops convened under the auspices of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, the issue remained largely taboo, addressed under the euphemism of "traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls".
The practice is particularly common in Africa, where some form of female genital mutilation occurs in at least 28 countries and where as many as 114 million women are affected. At a ground-breaking seminar held in Dakar in 1984, participants from 20 African countries, as well as representatives of international organizations, demanded that the practice be abolished and called for education programmes that would change attitudes and practice.
The message of this seminar has spread throughout the women's movement in Africa, carried by women like the Honourable Jane Frances Kuka who will tell us her remarkable story this evening. Indeed, it was largely as a result of grass-roots campaigns such as hers that what was once taboo will this year be debated by governments in the General Assembly. This is important progress.
Like the Honourable Kuka, African women understood that the practice was deeply embedded in culture and tradition and was a matter of pride and spiritualism for many. They realized that simply denouncing female genital mutilation and condemning those who perpetrated it would not bring about change. They knew that female genital mutilation would only disappear if people, including women, were convinced that they could give up the practice without giving up the meaningful aspects of their culture. They saw that female genital mutilation would be eradicated only through multifaceted strategies, including those directed at education and recognition of the importance of rites of passage.
Their efforts -- their courage and determination -- have placed the issue of female genital mutilation high on the political agenda.
I am certain that you are all aware of the December judgement of the highest Egyptian administrative court upholding a ministerial ban on female genital mutilation. You will also know that several countries, including the United States, recognize as refugees women who flee from their countries because of well-founded fear of female genital mutilation. You will be aware that although the problem remains acute, more and more parents are choosing to forego female genital mutilation for their daughters.
It is my sincere hope that we are moving towards the day when a practice which has affected the health and development of so many girls and women throughout the ages will be but a memory. As an African and as Secretary- General of the United Nations, I will do my utmost to ensure that this issue retains its rightful place on the international agenda and that it will receive the serious attention that it deserves from the United Nations system.
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