Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-02-06-Speech-4-015-000"
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"en.20140206.3.4-015-000"2
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"Madam President, today – 6 February – marks the tenth International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. It is estimated that well over 3 000 women in Ireland have been victims of FGM, despite the fact that the law prohibits it, and that thousands of girls and women across Europe are at risk of undergoing the procedure, either illegally in Europe or by being brought back to their parents’ country of origin. This is, without doubt, a barbaric and archaic practice which needs to stop.
Many people who are forced to undergo this procedure bleed to death or die of infections after being cut with dirty utensils. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissues, and hence interferes with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. The practice causes severe pain, and has several immediate and long-term health consequences, including difficulties in child birth. It can also cause damage to the child. Those who survive the procedure have severe and lasting effects from infection.
I praise those, such as the National Network of Migrant Women Living in Ireland, for the work that they have done in this area, but I regret that the practice still takes place at all. Obviously, the fact that we are still here discussing this means that not enough has been done. In my own constituency in the North of Ireland, teachers are being warned to watch out for girls taking prolonged absences from school to visit their – or their families’ – countries of origin for fear that they are at risk of being mutilated.
Ireland has done well to make this practice illegal under Irish law, but there is still a lot of work to be done with regards to awareness of this issue. FGM is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects a deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children.
Successive presidencies of the European Council have failed to make this a priority, but it is a European problem. I am glad that the UN General Assembly in December 2012 adopted a resolution on the elimination of female genital mutilation. Whilst I welcome the fact that it has been discussed here today, and that the European Parliament has already passed a resolution, we need to do much, much more."@en1
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