Anti- FGM Task Force: A statement of Establishment
Press Release
Feminist, human rights and development organizations announced resuming the “Anti-FGM Task Force” in conjunction with the yearly International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6. The establishment of the Task Force comes with the aim of intensifying and unifying efforts to create new policies and action mechanisms that curb the continuation of the FGM crime against girls and women in Egypt.
The United Nations General Assembly formally adopted February 6 as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation in 2012 in order to raise awareness about the practice and take concrete measures to reduce female genital mutilation.
On February 6, the Anti-FGM Task Force will hold its founding conference, which includes a review of the founding statement, an explanation of the sexual and physical effects of the crime of FGM, and a critical reading of the legal texts criminalizing FGM.
According to the statement issued by the Task Force, despite the efforts of state institutions in Egypt over the past two decades to eradicate FGM, the results showed that the rate of change is not commensurate with the amount of human and financial resources allocated to the cause.
The statement also states that the national campaigns that have continued for years to raise awareness about the dangers of the phenomenon and its legal criminalization have not resulted in a noticeable decrease in the rates of circumcision, except for a small percentage. Especially the rate of female circumcision, according to the data of the 2014 Egypt Population Health Survey, is up to 92% of the women (15-49 years) who have ever been married.
Egypt is also facing a real challenge represented in the increasing percentage of circumcision crimes, which are carried out by male and female doctors. The percentage of female circumcision performed by doctors and nurses has reached 78.4%.
Among the institutions participating in the Anti-FGM Task Force in Egypt are: Tadwein for Gender Studies, the New Woman Foundation, the Egyptian Women’s Issues Foundation, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Love Matters Arabic, the Egyptian Women Lawyers Initiative, the Women’s Center for Guidance and Legal Awareness, and the Egyptian Association for Development The Comprehensive Association, Salemah for Women’s Empowerment, the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, the Egyptian Children’s Rights Coalition, the Specific Union of Associations working to Combat Harmful Practices against Women and Children, which consists of 16 associations, and the Coalition of NGOs against Female Genital Mutilation, which includes 120 associations. The Anti-FGM Task Force consists of 146 feminist and human rights organizations as well as civil and developmental associations concerned with combating FGM in Egypt.
