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 No.335, Geneva, 2 February 2010IPU Logo-bottom

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

MEN TAKE ACTION

How can the process of putting an end to female genital mutilation (FGM) be accelerated? One way is by encouraging men to take action alongside women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC) and the Human Rights Office (ODH), Geneva Department for Security, Police and the Environment (DSPE).

With a view to exploring in greater depth the often positive role that men can play in putting an end to this practice, which affects between 100 million and 140 million girls and women throughout the world, and which each year threatens three million girls in Africa, certain countries in Asia and the Middle East, North Africa and Europe - within some migrant communities - the four partners have decided to organize a panel discussion on Friday, 5 February 2010, at the University of Geneva.

This event will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Rouiller Auditorium (UNI Dufour, U300 - lower ground floor 1) and will be moderated by Ms. Sylvia Lopez-Ekra, Gender Officer at the IOM. The panellists include Dr. Omar Mariko, a physician and a member of parliament from Mali, Prof. Abdoulaye Sow, an anthropologist and lecturer at the University of Nouakchott (Mauritania) who refused to have his daughter excised, as well as a Swiss man of Somali origin who also refused to have his daughter excised.

Following the panel discussion, participants will be invited to view a temporary exhibition at the Ethnography Museum of Geneva (MEG), where the public can share the wide range of human emotions that are associated with the practice of excision: pain, social pressure and shame but also energy, hope, life force and commitment.

The temporary exhibition will be inaugurated by Mr. Boris Drahusak, Co-Director of the Culture Department, Geneva, Mr. Anders B. Johnsson, IPU Secretary General, and Ms. Isabel Rochat, Geneva State Councillor with responsibility for the Department for Security, Police and the Environment (DSPE). Also in attendance will be Mr. Boris Wastiau, Director of the Museum, Ms. Fabienne Bugnon, Director, Geneva Office for Human Rights, and Ms. Berhane Ras-Work, Director of IAC, which is celebrating its 25th year of working for putting an end to FGM.

Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 151 affiliated parliaments and eight regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.

An intergovernmental organization established in 1951, IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. IOM currently has 127 Members and 94 observers, including 17 States and 77 global and regional IGOs and NGOs. Its approximately 7,000 staff in 440 offices worked on more than 2,000 projects in 2008.

The Office for Human Rights is attached to the Department for Security, Police and the Environment of the Canton of Geneva. It is tasked with helping develop an active human rights-based policy. Its scope includes the integration of foreigners, the promotion of gender equality, the prevention of domestic violence and international solidarity.

The Inter African Committee on traditional practices Affecting the Health of Women and Girls (IAC) is an International non-profit non-governmental organisation. Founded in 1984 in Dakar, Senegal, IAC was the first and target NGO network in Africa to take up the issue of FGM at the grassroots, regional and international levels.  IAC works to promote the basic human rights of women and children while promoting the beneficial ones. It is a member organisation that works through its national Committees in 28 African states and affiliates in 16 non African countries. IAC's headquarters are located at the premises of the UN Economic Commission For Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa; Ethiopia, and a Liaison Office in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Contact for interviews and RSVP

At the IPU
Mrs. Luisa Ballin, IPU Information Officer
5, ch. du Pommier, CH - 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex / Geneva
Phone: +41 22 919 41 16
Fax: +41 22 919 41 60
E-mail: lb@mail.ipu.org or cbl@mail.ipu.org

At IOM
Mr. Jean-Philippe Chauzy, Spokesperson
Tel.: +41 22 717 93 61
e-mail: pchauzy@iom.int

At IAC
Ms. Elisabeth Wilson, Information Officer
Phone: +41 22 731 24 20
E-mail elisabeth.wilson@iac-ciaf.net

At the ODH
Ms. Fabienne Bugnon, Director
Phone: +41 22 327 00 67
E-mail: fabienne.bugnon@etat.ge.ch