RES/27/22 Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively eliminate female genital mutilation

GE.A/HRC/27/36. 4-17697 (E)

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Human Rights Council

Twenty-seventh session

Agenda item 3

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council

27/22

Intensifying global efforts and sharing good practices to effectively

eliminate female genital mutilation

The Human Rights Council,

Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant

on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto, and the

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and

Members of Their Families,

Recalling also Human Rights Council resolution 5/1 on institution-building of the

Council of 18 June 2007,

Recalling further all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the

Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council concerning measures

with a view to eliminating harmful traditional practices prejudicial to the human rights of

women and girls,

Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the outcomes of the

twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender

equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”, the programme of action of

the International Conference on Population and Development and the programme of action

of the World Summit for Social Development and their five-, ten- and fifteen-year reviews,

and the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the commitments relevant to women

and girls made at the 2005 World Summit and reiterated by the General Assembly in its

resolution 65/1 of 22 September 2010 entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals”,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 67/146 of 20 December 2012 entitled

“Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations” and Human

Rights Council decision 24/117 of 27 September 2013 entitled “High-level panel on the

identification of good practices in combating female genital mutilation”,

Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a form of discrimination, an act of

violence against women and girls and a harmful practice that constitutes a serious threat to

their health, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can

increase their vulnerability to HIV and may have adverse obstetric and prenatal outcomes

as well as fatal consequences for the mother and the newborn, and that the abandonment of

this harmful practice can be achieved as a result of a comprehensive movement that

involves all public and private stakeholders in society, including girls and boys, women and

men,

Acknowledging the importance of the work undertaken by the United Nations

treaty bodies, particularly the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on

the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in addressing the practice of female

genital mutilation,

Acknowledging also the relevance and importance of regional instruments and

mechanisms, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Optional

Protocols thereto and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, in the

prevention and elimination of female genital mutilation,

Recognizing that efforts at the local, national, regional and international levels

have led to a decline in the global prevalence of female genital mutilation,

Concerned about the plight of the victims of female genital mutilation and the

continuing persistence of the practice, despite these efforts,

Noting with profound concern that the medicalization of this practice will

undermine the progress made in eliminating female genital mutilation and achieving zero

tolerance of the practice,

Welcoming the growing global consensus regarding the need to take appropriate

measures to eliminate female genital mutilation, and understanding that this practice has no

relevant religious or cultural basis,

Deeply concerned that the significant gap in resources continues and that the

shortfall in funding has severely limited the scope and pace of programmes and activities

for the elimination of female genital mutilation,

Welcoming the holding during the twenty-sixth session of the Human Rights

Council of the high-level panel discussion on the identification of good practices in

combating female genital mutilation, and taking note with interest of the summary report

thereon, prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human

Rights,1

1. Urges States to place special emphasis on education, in particular of youth,

parents and community leaders, about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, and

especially to encourage men and boys to become more involved in information and

awareness campaigns and become agents of change;

2. Also urges States to work for better dissemination and implementation of their

relevant international human rights obligations and commitments, particularly those

relating to the rights of women and girls, including by using outreach tools;

3

3. Further urges States to develop and implement, at the national level, policies,

programmes, action plans and national legislation for the elimination of female genital

mutilation, based on integrated multisectoral, coordinated and collective approaches at all

levels, taking into account the empowerment of former practitioners, the principles of

human rights, equality between women and men and non-discrimination, to ensure that

former practitioners abstain from resuming the exercise of this practice, and in general

taking into account the issue of respect for the basic human rights of women and girls,

while also working together with religious and traditional leaders;

4. Urges States to condemn all harmful practices that affect women and girls, in

particular female genital mutilation, whether committed within or outside a medical

institution;

5. Stresses the importance of working with local, regional and national networks

to address female genital mutilation, while warning about the risk of shifting the practice

from one country to another;

6. Also stresses the need to establish synergy between the activities of

international, regional and local organizations to provide better support to field

programmes, strengthen advocacy and ensure international support for the planning,

development and implementation of innovative long-term strategies for the effective

elimination of female genital mutilation;

7. Urges States to strengthen support to communities, especially those that have

developed successful local models to prevent and eliminate female genital mutilation, by

encouraging them to design and utilize education programmes, information and awareness-

raising tools and to make them accessible to the greatest number of people possible;

8. Urges States, international and regional governmental organizations and civil

society, including non-governmental organizations, to intensify research on the

consequences of female genital mutilation, the persistence of the practice and the impact of

campaigns and other initiatives to eliminate this scourge;

9. Urges the international community to continue and strengthen efforts to share

best practices on national and regional legislation, policies, programmes and action plans

aimed at preventing and criminalizing the practice, to mobilize resources and to enhance

international cooperation in this regard;

10. Calls upon States to continue to increase technical and financial assistance for

the effective implementation of policies, programmes and action plans to eliminate female

genital mutilation at the national, regional and international levels, including by

strengthening the United Nations Population Fund-United Nations Children’s Fund Joint

Programme on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Accelerating Change, and all the other

initiatives and activities at the local, regional and international levels aimed at the

prevention and elimination of female genital mutilation;

11. Calls upon States, the international community and the organizations of the

United Nations system to end the medicalization of female genital mutilation, which entails

the definition and dissemination of guidelines to medical staff, and to provide, including

through clinical guidelines, an adequate response to the chronic health problems suffered by

the millions of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation and that

hinder progress on health in general;

12. Urges the international community to keep the issue of the elimination of

female genital mutilation on the agenda of development policies, within the framework of

the process of developing the post-2015 development agenda;

13. Encourages the treaty bodies, in particular the Committee on Economic, Social

and Cultural Rights, the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the

Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee

against Torture and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers

and Members of Their Families, to continue to give the necessary consideration to the

question of female genital mutilation;

14. Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare,

in consultation with States, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s

Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the treaty bodies, relevant special procedures,

regional organizations, national human rights institutions, civil society and other relevant

stakeholders, a compilation of good practices and major challenges in preventing and

eliminating female genital mutilation, and to submit it to the Human Rights Council at its

twenty-ninth session;

15. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

40th meeting

26 September 2014

[Adopted without a vote.]