Abandoning Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Guidelines for Parliamentarians

It is our experience that Parliaments, both in Africa and in Europe, are lacking specific knowledge of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in their own countries, which is crucially needed to carry out their oversight and representational roles. They also suffer the absence of adequate resources for inter-parliamentary dialogue to exchange experiences on best practices regarding FGM/C.

As we know that FGM/C could be ended within one generation, perhaps even sooner if appropriate actions are taken, we, as AWEPA, are convinced by our previous experiences that we need to enhance the capacity of African and European Parliaments to exercise oversight, representative and legislative functions with regard to the practices of FGM/C, with a focus on FGM-C legislation, implementation and enforcement.

Parliamentarians, as custodians of democracy and human rights and as representatives of the voice of the people, including the girl child, have a central responsibility to enact legislation, pass budgets and hold their government to account. Political will and commitment to support the elimination of violence against women in general and specifically in the area of FGM/C in Africa is needed, in the interests of the whole society Therefore, AWEPA initiated a broad campaign among European and African parliamentarians to champion the eradication of FGM/C. AWEPA started with the support of the Luxemburg government an action in the framework of the UNICEF-UNFPA joint programme, and initiated a campaign with the Pan-African Parliament Women's Caucus.