The Anti Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Task Force
Tadwein for Gender Studies organized a meeting with civil society organizations working on the issue of violence against women and on female genital mutilation in particular. The purpose of the meeting was to brainstorm ideas to better tackle the issue of FGM in Egypt. The meeting attendees consolidated on the need to unify CSOs efforts in combating FGM and thus founded the “Task Force against FGM” to critically explore previous efforts made towards the issue of FGM in Egypt. On the 6th of February 2018, which markers the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, Tadwein for Gender Studies organized a conference to officially announce the establishment of the Anti-FGM taskforce which aimed to achieve the following:
- Work to change societal beliefs about FGM in line with the legal criminalization of the practice.
- Shed light on the state’s responsibility to protect girls and generate new effective mechanisms to make that happen.
- Complete the legal reform path aimed at amending articles related to FGM, follow up on their enforcement, and provide legal aid when necessary.
- Lobby to include comprehensive sexual education materials in schools, and to develop FGM awareness classes for students.
- Develop a human rights discourse against FGM that is not limited to religious and medical approaches, but extended to girls’ and women’s rights on a healthy and sound life, and sexual and reproductive rights.
- Resist the medicalization of FGM by making partnerships with young doctors, trying to develop medical education, and encouraging the Doctors Syndicate to exercise its supervisory role to prevent the crimes of FGM from taking place.
- Preserve the history of women’s organizations in combating FGM, by documenting the history of the previous workforce, and collecting studies and reports issued in this regard, whether at local or regional levels
A statement of establishing the task force against FGM on February 6, 2018.
First Statement by The Anti-FGM Task Force on May 24, 2018.
Second Statement by The Anti-FGM Task Force on February 1, 2020.
Third Statement by The Anti-FGM Task Force on August 7, 2020.
Fourth Statement by The Anti-FGM Task Force on February 9, 2021.
Fifth Statement by The Anti-FGM Task Force on June 27, 2021.
