UN Urges Ban on Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriages
UNITED NATIONS: A UN women’s forum urged the world on Friday to
ban female genital mutilation and forced marriages.
The Commission on
the Status of Women passed by consensus two resolutions on the issues following
two weeks of debate on ending violence and discrimination against girls. Some
6,000 women from governments and grass roots groups attended the conference.
The South African-drafted resolution on circumcision “urges states to
take all necessary measures to protect girls and women from female genital
mutilation, including by enacting and enforcing legislation to prohibit this
form of violence and to end impunity”.
An estimated 120 million to 140
million women and girls worldwide are estimated to have suffered genital
mutilation, also known female circumcision, with UN agencies estimating that
another three million a year are subjected to the practice. The practice usually
involves cutting off the clitoris and other parts of the female genitalia. There
are degrees of severity and many of the practitioners are untrained and use
crude instruments.
It is a custom traditionally believed to bestow
status and honour, but it can disfigure, cause psychological damage and
sometimes kill.
Genital mutilation predominantly occurs in 28 African
countries, including Sudan, Chad, Sierra Leone and Djibouti, but it also takes
place in some Middle Eastern nations, like Saudi Arabia, among immigrant
communities in Europe and North America, and parts of Asia, including Indonesia.
“Violence against women and girls in all its forms, including harmful
traditional or customary practices, specifically female genital mutilation, not
only constitutes serious threats to health, but are also grave violations of the
dignity of women and girls and of their human rights,” Rev Robert Myer, a
Vatican spokesman, told the conference.
Ban on these practices
‘essential’: “While eliminating these practices will not be easy — given their
deeply embedded roots — their elimination is essential for the full awareness of
the inherent values, dignity and worth of women and girls,” he said.
The
resolution adopted by the women’s conference on forced marriage “urges states to
enact and strictly enforce laws to ensure that marriage is entered into only
with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.”
The United
States initially drafted the resolution, but withdrew sponsorship after an
amendment by Germany that reaffirmed the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. The United States is not a party to either conventions, but still
welcomed the passing of the resolution. “Forced marriage of the girl child is a
form of discrimination and violence that has negative consequences in terms of
health, education, economic opportunities and subjection to violence,” US
representative Patricia Prister said. “It robs girls of choice about their
futures in so many ways it perpetuates rigid second-class citizenship for
females,” she said.
India last year toughened its laws on the forced
marriage of children — a centuries-old tradition — with government studies
showing 65 percent of girls are married before the legal age of 18. Pakistan’s
ruling party introduced a bill last month aimed at outlawing forced marriages,
but enforcement has proved difficult.
Iran is also not a party to the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and
told the conference it could not support the reference to it in the resolution.
reuters