WUNRN
INTER-AFRICAN COMMITTEE ON TRADITIONAL PRACTICES - IAC
Direct Link: http://www.iac-ciaf.com/Documentation/Declarations/Abidjan%20Declaration.doc
http://www.iac-ciaf.com/programs.htm#102967981
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION-FGM PROGRAMS FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS
As part of the Training and Information Campaigns, IAC
has a special program for Religious Leaders.
Religion is still being forwarded as a reason to continue
FGM. We work closely with religious leaders to clarify this misconception of
religious requirements and encourage religious leaders to join the campaign.
Recently, from the 23rd-25th October 2007, a Symposium for Religious Leaders was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in which 37 participants from 23 African countries took part. Also present were representatives from the local and international media, and the national Ministry of Health. A three-year Action Plan (2008-2010) was developed to combat FGM and mistaken beliefs about the role that religion plays in this practice. The symposia culminated in the Abidjan Declaration of Commitment. The statements in this Declaration include the assertion that FGM has no place in the Islamic or Christian faiths and it also calls for the signatories to commit themselves to the struggle for the total elimination of FGM, not just in their respective countries but wherever it exists.
This event was a follow-up to the two symposia held in 2005 for English and French-speaking Religious Leaders in Egypt and Burkina Faso. The participants were 80 religious leaders from 30 countries. After serious analysis of the FGM problem, they made an open statement (in what became known as the Ouagadougou Declaration) of their opposition to the practice and adopted a decision to set up a network in order to continue the campaign in a sustained and coordinated manner.
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