View previous stories
	UN call for abolishing female genital mutilation by UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin   Feb 2011   Stressing that all girls deserve to grow up free from harmful practices that endanger their well-being, United Nations officials have called for abolishing the practice of female genital mutilation to help millions lead healthier lives.   Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C) is the partial or total removal of the external genitalia – undertaken for cultural or other non-medical reasons – often causing severe pain and sometimes resulting in prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and even death.   Genital cutting can produce complications during child birth, increasing the chances of death or disability for both mother and child.   Despite these risks, three million girls face FGM/C every year in Africa, and up to 140 million women and girls worldwide have already undergone the practice, which has serious immediate and long-term health effects and is a clear violation of fundamental human rights, according to the heads of the UN Children"s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).   In a joint statement to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM/C, UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake renewed their commitment to put an end to the harmful practice.   “We call on the global community to join us in this critical effort. Together, we can abolish FGM/C in one generation and help millions of girls and women to live healthier, fuller lives,” they stated.   Over 6,000 communities in Africa, including in Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Senegal, have chosen to abandon the practice of FGM/C through a joint programme set up by the two agencies three years ago, and the number is growing.   “We are working in 12 out of 17 priority African countries and have seen real results. The years of hard work are paying off with FGM/C prevalence rates decreasing,” said Nafissatou Diop, Coordinator of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C.   “In Ethiopia, the prevalence rate has fallen from 80 per cent to 74 per cent, in Kenya from 32 per cent to 27 per cent, and in Egypt from 97 per cent to 91 per cent. But there is still a lot of work to do,” added Ms. Diop.   Set up in 2008, the joint initiative encourages communities to collectively abandon FGM/C. It uses a culturally sensitive approach, including dialogue and social networking, leading to abandonment within one generation.   The programme is anchored in human rights and involves all groups within a community, including religious leaders and young girls themselves. Rather than condemn FGM/C, it encourages collective abandonment to avoid alienating those that practice it and instead bring about their voluntary renunciation.   “Social norms and cultural practices are changing, and women and men in communities are uniting to protect the rights of girls. UNFPA and UNICEF are working with partners to end this harmful practice in one generation and we believe that reaching this goal is possible,” said the UN agency chiefs. Visit the related web page
	Defending the rights of African descendants in the Americas by Verónica Villagra Uruguay   “My battleground relates to racism and racial discrimination,” says human rights defender Verónica Villagra, representative of the Mundo Afro collective that defends the rights of black Uruguayans.   African descendants make up close to a third of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean (numbering roughly 150 million according to a 2010 UNDP Report), but they continue to face a disproportionate degree of poverty and exclusion, compounded by overt racial discrimination.   “In Uruguay we have made undeniable progress but maintaining and improving this is a daily task. We represent 9.2 percent of a population of three million. Seventy percent of afro-Uruguayans are poor and we have been historically invisible. We also face many challenges because racism mutates and acquires new forms”, laments Villagra.   “The divide stemming from 500 years of racism distances us from the rest of society in terms of access to skilled employment and to secondary and tertiary education. The practice of racism is so embedded in people’s subconscious, that it is very hard to raise awareness and to deconstruct it.”   A historic hub of the transatlantic slave trade, Brazil today has the biggest number of African descendants in the region, as well as one of the highest proportions per capita. It is also one of the countries with the widest racial gaps in poverty, education and literacy rates.   “In the experience of Brazil’s black population, the primary agent violating their rights is the State”, explains Lucia Xavier, a social worker and Coordinator of the Rio-based NGO Criola that focuses on the rights of black women.   “Racism is impregnated in all of our public institutions… So an important part of our work involves legislative accompaniment at both the local and national levels.”   She says this goes hand-in-hand with education, training and advocacy to raise awareness of socio-economic rights in particular. “Our stamp needs to be the conjugation of those rights into public policies, as well as finding judicial remedies”, says Xavier.   Citing the need to strengthen national actions and international cooperation to ensure that people of African descent fully enjoy economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2011 the International Year for People of African Descent. Currently, such efforts to raise awareness and increase cooperation are being spearheaded by various institutional as well as individual human rights defenders across the region. Visit the related web page
	View more stories