Liz McManus
Question:78 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he plans to seek international support for a world-wide ban on the practice of female genital mutilation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12939/01]
Written Answers - Female Genital Mutilation.
Female genital mutilation, FGM, is a widespread and long standing tradition in communities in parts of Africa, the Middle East and south east Asia. Although it is associated with countries which have a strong Moslem tradition, it is not an exclusively Islamic practice. It occurs also in immigrant communities in North America and Europe.
According to WHO, up to 130 million women and girls have undergone genital mutilation worldwide – and at least two million girls are at risk of genital mutilation each year. There is no medical indication for the practice and it is frequently carried out by persons with no training. It frequently leads to serious physical and psychological problems for women who have undergone it – in a substantial number of cases it is implicated as a direct cause of serious illness and death.
The continued practice of FGM is a serious international issue which should be the concern of women and men who believe in equality, dignity and fairness to all human beings.
FGM is a complex issue closely related to the cultural, social, religious, and gender relationships of a society. Condemnation of this practice requires both an understanding of this multifaceted complexity, and a recognition of the need to redress the extent that it infringes universally recognised rights of women and children on whom it is practised.
FGM is just one manifestation of gender based human rights inequalities which are prevalent in many societies and which compromise the physical, psychological and sexual rights of women. It is important to recognise also that efforts to curtail FGM cannot be viewed in isolation to other efforts that address the many forms of civil, political, social and economic injustice that women suffer worldwide.
The Government, through its commitment to UN declarations and agencies, demonstrates a strong commitment to advancing the social and economic development of women. This commitment is given further expression through support for specific programmes for the advancement of women in developing countries, financed through Ireland Aid.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores the obligation of states to respect basic human rights, such as the right to physical and mental security, freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender and the right to good health.
The 1994 UN International Conference for Population and Development in Cairo emphasised the interconnections between reproductive health and human rights. Its Programme for Action urges governments to put a stop to the practice of FGM and put in place programmes for education and rehabilitation. The World Health Organisation, which receives considerable voluntary contributions from my Department, has a long history of addressing FGM from the perspective of the right of women and girl-children to the highest attainable standard of health.
The UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979, defines what constitutes discrimination against women and outlines an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. There are at present 166 states parties to CEDAW, including Ireland which ratified the Convention in 1985. Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are required to put its provisions into practice.
FGM has been recognised as a form of violence against women in the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and in the UN Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. In June last year, my colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Donoghue led the Irish delegation to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the five year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action which were adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.
At Beijing + 5, member states adopted by consensus a document entitled Further Actions and Initiatives to implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The document deals in some depth with the issue of FGM and notes that while an increasing number of countries have introduced legislation to ban FGM, the practice continues to be widespread. The document calls upon governments to develop, adopt and fully implement laws and other measures to eradicate FGM and other violations of the human rights of women. The Government fully subscribes to this approach.