CONTACT FOR MEDIA

CONTACT FOR MEDIA

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

 

International Day against Female Genital Mutilation - Zero Tolerance towards FGM

Abidjan, February 6, 2007 – Today is the day during which the entire world stands up against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), generally known as cutting or excision. According to World Health Organisation (WHO)¹ estimates, between 100 and 140 million women have suffered one of the many forms of FGM/Cutting.

Côte d’Ivoire is one of the West African countries where cutting is the most prevalent. In spite of Law 98/757 of December 23, 1998, which prohibits genital cutting in Côte d’Ivoire, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) 2006 estimates that 36% of Ivorian women have suffered cutting (34 % in urban and 38 % in rural areas).
Thus the practice continues with the greatest prevalence² being registered in the western (73.3 %) and the northern and north-western (87.9 %) regions.

FGM/Cutting is a term which covers a variety of practices leading to partial or complete ablation of, or to an alteration of the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Generally, the operation is performed on girls between the age of 4 and 14. It is also performed on very young girls, women about to marry and sometimes on women during their first pregnancy or just after delivery².
Often performed by traditional practitioners who specialize in the act or traditional midwives, the operation is done without anesthesia with scissors, razor blades or knives. FGM is always traumatic and generally complicated by pain, emotional shock, problems during delivery and in some cases fatal outcome.
 
“FGM/Cutting is a fundamental violation of human rights. The fight against FGM is complex and its impact will only become visible once we succeed in breaking down the social and community consensus surrounding this harmful traditional practice”, says Sylvie Dossou, interim UNICEF Representative in Côte d’Ivoire,

FGM/Cutting violates women’s and girl’s fundamental rights, which are (i) the right to their physical and psychological integrity, (ii) the right to be protected against all forms of violence and discrimination, and (iii), in the most extreme cases, the right to life.
These harmful traditional practices are an extreme example of gender-based discrimination.

For several years now, UNICEF and its partners have taken an interest in the problem of FGM/Cutting in Côte d’Ivoire, with the objective of eliminating all forms of FGM in the country.
Their main activities have been:

• To raise awareness of FGM as a problem among the populations of targeted towns and villages and to have their behavior towards it changed.
• To strengthen the capacity of the main actors to enable communities to make the necessary efforts to abandon the practice of FGM.
• Wherever possible, to identify the girls in age to be subjected to FGM in the intervention areas, in order to engage specific educational, protective and preventive activities.
• To identify the traditional FGM practitioners and sensitize them to the need to abandon this practice.

"Even though cultural practices may appear senseless or destructive from the standpoint of others, they have meaning and fulfill a function for those who practice them. However, culture is not static; it is in constant flux, adapting and reforming. People will change their behaviour when they understand the hazards and indignity of harmful practices and when they realize that it is possible to give up harmful practices without giving up meaningful aspects of their culture."

- Female Genital Mutilation, A joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA statement, World Health Organization, Geneva, 1997.

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¹ WHO 2000 
² MICS 2006

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For more ample information:
Alexandra Westerbeek, Chief Communication, UNICEF Côte d’Ivoire. 
05572178 / 2121 1812 awesterbeek@unicef.org

Chrystel Trazié-Menan, Communication Assistant, UNICEF Côte d’Ivoire.
06251581/ 21218214 ctrazie@unicef.org