Good afternoon, everybody and welcome to our afternoon session!
I do hope that you had an enjoyable lunch and were able to use the opportunity to mingle amongst friends.
My name is Marion Roe. I have been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Broxbourne, in Hertfordshire, for the past 21 years, and I am delighted to be chairing this second session of today's important conference on Female Genital Mutilation.
The silence that surrounds many forms of abuse and discrimination against women and girls is slowly lifting in a number of societies. Subjects long considered sensitive, or beyond debate are being objectively and critically assessed. Among these subjects is female genital mutilation.
I first heard about Female Genital Mutilation, or Female Circumcision as it was known in those days, in the late 1970s, when I was a member of the Greater London Council.
As a local government representative in London , I became aware that Female Genital Mutilation was being practised in the United Kingdom by certain refugee and immigrant communities; it horrified me ! It is not only a violation of every child's rights, it is physically harmful and has serious consequences for a girl's health.
As soon as I became a Member of Parliament in 1983, I began to seek support from other parliamentarians of all Parties, as well as the Conservative government, for a Private Members Bill to prohibit female circumcision in the United Kingdom .
A lthough there was much pressure from the immigrant communities affected, - I was called “ a racist “, I was accused of intervening in religious freedoms, cultural traditions etc, my Bill, the Prohibition of Female Circumcision, became law in 1985, - 19 years ago, - one of the first pieces of legislation on this issue in the world.
In formulating my Bill, for which I received full co-operation from all sides of the House, I was at great pains to block every avenue whereby those wishing to continue FGM in the UK could not obviate the law, - I was into groundbreaking territory.
For example, a great deal of pressure was exerted on me not to have explicit wording on a surgical operation by a registered medical practitioner on a girl for her mental health, - obviously, the intent being to use the stress on a girl who is not conforming to a traditional practice as an excuse to find a gap in the legislation.
I strongly believed that making FGM unlawful was only a first step, - more needed to be done to persuade those parents and family members involved to change their behaviour, so, whilst my Bill was proceeding through its parliamentary stages in Committee, I persuaded the Conservative government to guarantee funding for educational purposes, not only in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, to eliminate this practice.
I am pleased to say that the present Labour government has continued to honour that commitment, providing hundreds of thousands of pounds for educational programmes and research, including partly financing the All-Party Parliamentary Group Report on Population, Development and Reproductive Health Report, which produced many worthwhile recommendations to the government on this issue.
I should also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the many excellent voluntary and charity groups, such as Rain-bo and FORWARD, as well as UNICEF, which do magnificent work at the grass-roots level amongst the communities; their efforts are vital.
The European Parliament has also considered this issue and made NINE recommendations to all member states on the 20 September 2001 to condemn FGM as a violation of human rights and as a crime.
It is very important that not only is FGM made illegal and educational programmes initiated but also social workers, teachers and the medical profession are included in the fight to eliminate the practice. Their participation is crucial.
My All Party friends and I, having taken the Bill through Parliament in 1985 and seen it become an Act, believed that we had done something worthwhile and that in time FGM in the UK would become a thing of the past.
It was, therefore, a grave disappointment to my Parliament ary colleagues and me to discover that no prosecutions were being brought under the 1985 Act.
When I questioned why this was the case, I was told that it was impossible to persuade children to testify against their parents and family but it also seemed to me that a conspiracy of silence amongst certain members of the refugee and immigrant communities was difficult to break. It then became apparent that children from immigrant communities were being sent back to their country of origin for a so-called holiday for FGM to take place.
My Prohibition of Female Circumcisions Act of 1985 made FGM illegal if it took place within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom . A person would have been guilty of conspiracy if they had conspired in the United Kingdom to commit FGM in a country where it is illegal also. H owever, a person cannot be guilty of conspiracy if the FGM occurred in a country where it is legal. It is not an offence to conspire in the United Kingdom to commit an act aboard which is not illegal both in the UK and in the country for which it is planned.
T he question of a prosecution being brought under UK law on the family's return from abroad has been a matter that has concerned me greatly and I was delighted that this whole issue was addressed in the Bill, introduced by Ann Clywd last year, of which I was one of the sponsors.
As this morning's programme demonstrated, a positive approach to this issue is evident in the UK and we must continue our commitment to women's rights with dedicated perseverance.
This morning's speakers gave an in-depth perspective on what is happening in the United Kingdom . Now we move onto the international stage and it gives me the greatest pleasure to introduce to you Maggie Baxter, Executive Director of WOMANKIND Worldwide, an organisation doing a fantastic job.
Maggie has been in this post since May 1999, prior to which, she was Deputy Chief Executive and Grants Director at Comic Relief, which she joined in 1991. During her time there, she was seconded as Acting Chief Executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, from 1997-98. Margie is the Chairman of the City Parochial Foundation Trust for London and a Trustee of Hilden Charitable Trust and Dance United, along with being an Association Member of OXFAM. Maggie is obviously a lady who is very busy and also has enormous experience and expertise in charitable work.
Maggie Baxter.
Thank you very much indeed Maggie for your excellent presentation. We all admire the work that you and your organisation do and wish you continuing success in your labours. You have certainly given us plenty to think about. We are most grateful to you for giving time from your busy schedule to be with us today.
We will now have a quarter of an hour break for tea and coffee and I look forward to you all returning at 2.45 pm, so that we can set up our workshops in which we shall be discussing Pri mary Care Settings, Community Settings and Legal and Child Protection.
Workshops
>We shall now split into three groups for our workshop tasks.
The Pri mary Care Settings Group will be chaired by Dr Harry Gordon and, and will gathering here in Lecture Theatre 2, to undertake their work.
The Legal and Child Protection Group will be chaired by Adwoa Kluvitse and they will be working in Seminar Room G4 upstairs.
I shall be chairing the Community Settings Group and we shall gather in Seminar Room G3 upstairs.
I now invite you all to move to your respective groups, returning to this Hall at 4 pm .
Welcome back from your workshops.
I am sure that you have all enjoyed the opportunity to have your say and exchange ideas with colleagues.
I now invite Comfort Momoh (Primary Care), Adwoa Kluvitse (Legal) and Julie Matthew (Community Settings) to give us feedback from the workshops, so that we can all hear the results of the discussions that have taken place this afternoon.
May I thank our rapporteurs for their reports and you all very much indeed for the magnificent contribution that you have made during the workshop sessions. I think that there are some very important conclusions on which we need to focus in our quest to eliminate FGM.
Just a few points -
First, awareness and advocacy.
This is a theme that has been repeated many times. Raising awareness at all levels within the community with particular emphasis on religious leaders, social services and schools, which are best placed to watch children develop through their school life and pick up signs of a child that may be in distress.
Health visitors are very important as they support the new mother until the child is aged 4. They can have a serious influence on providing education and information on health and legal implications and, of course,
>GPs, as they are the first point of contact, when children present themselves with FGM-related illnesses. And, let us not forget,
Midwives, who see pregnant women and deliver babies.
All have a role to play in spreading information and providing feedback.
Secondly, education.
We need to encourage culturally sensitive education programmes and services, targeting relevant communities, especially school-age children. I cannot over-emphasise how important this work is.
Thirdly, monitoring.
This is vital. I think we all feel that agencies should get together locally to develop a more appropriate method on how they will undertake monitoring to ensure that children are protected. We need to make sure that FGM is taken seriously and investigate whenever necessary. If it is required, prosecution should follow.
We must not forget local and central governments' role. Both should be fully supportive of the work that is being undertaken by organisations such as the Agency for Culture and Change Management, FORWARD, London Black Women's Health and Welfare Association, and others.
And finally, funding and resources to make all of this really work. I think we all realise that short-term funding will not solve the problems as work towards the elimination of FGM is a long-term process.
I should just like to say a few words about the international scene. I have been pursuing my quest to eradicate FGM beyond our shores.
I have been representing the UK with other MPs of all parties at Inter- Parliament ary Union conferences for over 6 years, where I have been raising issues of concern relating to children, - for example, child soldiers, child labour, child health, child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children and, of course, FGM.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union is an organisation to which 140 countries belong and there are two conferences a year to which they send their Parliamentarians to debate current issues.
The Inter- Parliament ary Union organised a panel discussion on the topic “Violence Against Women – FGM” during its 106 th conference in Burkina Faso in September 2001; its purpose was to make Parliament arians aware of the importance of eliminating this harmful traditional practice. The session was well attended by men and women MPs who wished to take this matter further.
A further brainstorming session was organised at the next IPU annual conference in Marrakech , Morocco in March 2002, when a Parliament ary think-tank for the eradication of FGM was created. There were five members of this panel, comprising a Member of Parliament each from: Kenya , Nigeria , Norway , UK and Uganda . I am the UK member. <
We know that FGM is a violation of inherent human rights and is condemned in both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
We were mandated to study the possibility of:
- Working towards a possible international convention on the eradication of FGM;
- Organising, if need be, a Parliamentary Conference on Parliamentary action to eradicate FGM, which should be convened jointly by the IPU and the African Parliamentary Union, and should bring together MPs, Inter African Committee representatives, religious and traditional leaders, NGOs and former practitioners of FGM, together with many others involved in this issue.
Another meeting of our Parliamentary think-tank was held at the following IPU conference in Santiago, Chile, in April 2003, where discussions resulted in the presentation of recommendations to the full International Council of the IPU on this issue and future work to be done in this field by the IPU in co-operation with the African Parliamentary Union and by national governments with the hope that an international conference can be organised in the near future on the FGM issue alone.
Last May, I had a long briefing session with the Head of the Human Rights Policy Department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on our plans and sought British Government assistance in funding an international convention in order to raise the profile of FGM at international Ministerial level.
The IPU has also set up sections on FGM on the IPU website (www.ipu.org), which includes details of countries throughout the world where this is practiced and what action, if any, governments have taken to eliminate it.
The idea of the website is to disseminate information to anybody and everybody who has an interest in eradicating FGM so that the wheel is not reinvented and good practice is spread. Many African countries have found these web pages extremely helpful.
I also attended a conference called “Zero Tolerance to FGM” in Addis Ababa in February 2003, which was organised by a non-Governmental organisation, the Inter African Committee on Traditional Practices affecting the Health of Women and Children.
I listened with great interest to the presentations and comments from young and old representing NGOs and voluntary organisations from countries throughout Africa, as well as UNICEF and the WHO, describing plans for mobilising religious leaders, community leaders and youth with projects for entrepreneurial training for former circumcisors, so they can find new employment, as well as awareness programmes. I would remind you that every year two million young girls are estimated to be at risk of this harmful practice.
For example, in the Sudan, over 70% of women are affected by the most severe forms of FGM, - in Somalia, 97% of women are subject to FGM.
It was a very heartening experience to hear religious leaders confirming that there is no religious base to FGM and also to hear young men condemning this abuse of human rights. There were former circumcisors who had abandoned their practice and were now preaching to the communities the error of their ways.
The conference adopted a Common Agenda for Action and concluded that the fight against FGM called for a concerted and coordinated approach with periodic consultation and exchange of information between all those involved in its eradication, including Parliamentarians. It also endorsed the role of advocacy and lobbying to influence policy within Governments at regional, national and international levels.
The common agenda for years 2003 to 2010 comprises 11 objectives and aims to:
- Determine, by means of operational research, the extent and nature of female genital mutilation for purposes of targeted intervention;
- Produce information, education and communication brochures appropriate for the campaign against female genital mutilation;
- Establish training and information campaigns for the groups concerned;
- Organise special programmes for religious leaders;
- Encourage young people to be heavily involved in the process of eradicating female genital mutilation;
- Organise training programmes for information and media professionals;
- Establish retraining programmes for health professionals;
- Identify viable alternatives for former excisers;
- Conduct awareness-raising campaigns among decision makers and facilitate the identification and adoption of laws against female genital mutilation;
- Strengthen cooperation between the government departments concerned, the World Health Organisation, the specialised agencies of the United Nations and other bodies with a view to adopting a comprehensive approach towards the elimination of female genital mutilation;
- Provide assistance and advice to the victims of female genital mutilation.
Also, the 6 February was declared an International Day on Zero Tolerance to FGM.
The target is to eliminate FGM totally by 2010.
I believe that Governments, civil servants and Parliamentarians, male and female, must work together if we are to eradicate FGM. W e must give encouragement and assist our international colleagues to make FGM illegal, wherever it is practised. I congratulate those which have already done so, for example, Burkina Faso , where they passed a law declaring FGM illegal in November 1996 and set up a national committee to combat the practice. W e must support educational programmes and ensure that adequate funding can be found for awareness projects.
On 11 July 2003 , at the second summit of the African Union in Maputo , Mozambique , the African Union adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa , a supplementary protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. It has been seen as a significant step in the effort to promote and ensure respect for the rights of African women.
The Protocol requires African governments to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women in Africa and to promote equality between women and men. It commits governments, if they have not already done so, to include in their national constitutions and other legislative instruments these fundamental principles and ensure their effective implementation.
In addition, it obligates them to integrate a gender perspective in their policy decisions, legislation, development plans, and activities, and to ensure the overall well-being of women. The Protocol will enter into force after fifteen states have ratified.
In Mexico City , in April this year, the Inter- Parliament ary Union, in conjunction with UNICEF launched a handbook for Parliament arians at this year's Annual Inter- Parliament ary Conference. Within this book, of course, is featured Female Genital Mutilation and recommendations and strategies are outlined for Parliament arians in order to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation throughout the world.
We are now beginning to achieve our objectives. I am pleased to say that we are in the process of organising a Parliament ary Conference to take place early next year in Africa , where we can bring together MPs, religious and traditional leaders, NGOs and former practitioners and others. This Conference will be a major step forward in persuading national governments to take action against this abhorrent practice.
So I and other like-minded Parliament arians are doing our bit on an international basis to eradicate FGM.
W e must continue the fight until we have achieved our goal of preventing young girls and women from violation and suffering.
O nly our determination, our voices and our actions will establish their rights and remove health risks. I trust that Ann Clwyd's Act, - an extension of my Act, - will provide us with a further step forward along the long road to halt the violation of the rights of children and women.
We have had a very constructive debate.
I should like to place on record my sincere thanks to Sarah McCulloch and her team for organising today's conference and for making it such an interesting and productive event. We are most grateful to them for all their hard work.
I am sure that our findings today will make impact and I think we should all demonstrate our deep appreciation to all those involved in making this Conference a success, including our speakers.
I should also like to thank all of you for attending this Conference, demonstrating your commitment to action. We have all learned something from each other.
I shall now hand over to Sarah, who will bring our Conference to a close.