Secretary-General hopes female genital mutilation 'will be but a memory', promises to ensure issue remains on international agenda

SG/SM/6602
WOM/1052
18 June 1998


Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement at the
opening of the meeting on "Culture, Education and Female Circumcision",
delivered on his behalf by his Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women, Angela King, on Monday, 15 June:

It gives me pleasure to greet all who have gathered for this meeting to
discuss "culture, education and female circumcision". I would like to
express my appreciation to the Government and Permanent Mission of Uganda,
the Women's Federation for World Peace, the Family Federation for World
Peace, Unification International, and other sponsors for their role in making this meeting
possible, and in particular for focusing attention on a subject of such
great importance.

During this decade, female genital mutilation has been recognized by the
international community as a profound violation of the human rights of
women.

The 1993 Declaration on Violence against Women included female genital
mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women within the
definition of violence against women. The Programme of Action adopted at
the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 called
on governments to prohibit female genital mutilation wherever it occurs and
to support efforts by non-governmental and community organizations and
religious institutions to eliminate it.

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action reiterated the international
community's determination to eradicate the practice, recommending that
governments enact and enforce legislation to address it.

And in 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
issued a landmark joint statement that described the practice and why it
occurs, detailed its devastating effects, and outlined strategies to
eliminate it. Later that year, the UNFPA appointed a special ambassador,
Waris Dirie, a young woman of courage and herself a victim of the practice,
to speak out against female genital mutilation.

But the international community's approach to this issue has not always
been so robust. Although raised by the Commission on Human Rights as long
ago as 1952, and although it has been the subject of studies and workshops
convened under the auspices of the United Nations and its specialized
agencies, the issue remained largely taboo, addressed under the euphemism
of "traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls".

The practice is particularly common in Africa, where some form of female
genital mutilation occurs in at least 28 countries and where as many as 114
million women are affected. At a ground-breaking seminar held in Dakar in
1984, participants from 20 African countries, as well as representatives of
international organizations, demanded that the practice be abolished and
called for education programmes that would change attitudes and practice.

The message of this seminar has spread throughout the women's movement in
Africa, carried by women like the Honourable Jane Frances Kuka who will
tell us her remarkable story this evening. Indeed, it was largely as a
result of grass-roots campaigns such as hers that what was once taboo will
this year be debated by governments in the General Assembly. This is important
progress.

Like the Honourable Kuka, African women understood that the practice
was deeply embedded in culture and tradition and was a matter of pride and
spiritualism for many. They realized that simply denouncing female genital
mutilation and condemning those who perpetrated it would not bring about
change. They knew that female genital mutilation would only disappear if
people, including women, were convinced that they could give up the
practice without giving up the meaningful aspects of their culture. They
saw that female genital mutilation would be eradicated only through
multifaceted strategies, including those directed at education and
recognition of the importance of rites of passage.

Their efforts -- their courage and determination -- have placed the issue
of female genital mutilation high on the political agenda.

I am certain that you are all aware of the December judgement of the
highest Egyptian administrative court upholding a ministerial ban on female
genital mutilation. You will also know that several countries, including
the United States, recognize as refugees women who flee from their
countries because of well-founded fear of female genital mutilation. You
will be aware that although the problem remains acute, more and more
parents are choosing to forego female genital mutilation for their
daughters.

It is my sincere hope that we are moving towards the day when a practice
which has affected the health and development of so many girls and women
throughout the ages will be but a memory. As an African and as
SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, I will do my utmost to ensure that
this issue retains its rightful place on the international agenda and that
it will receive the serious attention that it deserves from the United
Nations system.