‘Mobilisation and Involvement of Health Personnel’
Today we mark February 6th, the internationally recognised day against female genital cutting (FGC). The movement that had been envisaged by so many campaigners for so many years is finally happening, although it saddens all of us that Efua Dorkenoo, is no longer with us to see change happening.
The theme this year is “Mobilisation and Involvement of Health Personnel to Accelerate Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation”. This theme is incredibly relevant: 18% of all FGC globally now takes place in a medical environment and this figure is rising. In Egypt, the statistics say that 77% of all FGC is carried out by health personnel. And this is just in countries where we know the scale of the practice.
We know too that in parts of Asia and the Middle East, where we unfortunately have less data, the medicalisation of FGC is on the rise. In June last year, the Indonesian Government appeared to repeal medical guidance, which laid out in startling clinical detail how to cut young girls. At Orchid Project, and across civil society, the stance remains firm: FGC is a human rights violation and every girl has the right to remain free from cutting in any form.
Marking February 6th
This year we have marked the internationally recognised day to end FGC by hosting an event at the UK Consulate in New York, along with the Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, UK Mission to the UN. Speakers at the event included Orchid Project’s Ambassador and Senegalese musician Sister Fa; Kate Gilmore, Deputy UNFPA Executive Director (Programme), Executive Director of the UNFPA and Dr Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. Guests included campaigners, politicians and influencers. You can see a clip of Sister Fa performing at the event here.
- Sister Fa performing one of her songs.
- Kate Gilmore (UNFPA), Geeta Rao Gupta (UNICEF) and Julia.
- Julia, Sister Fa and Sir Mark Lyall Grant
We are also holding a film screening of the documentary about Sister Fa, Sarabah, in New York along with the documentary makers, which will also feature a Q&A session. You can find more information here.
