Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-02-06-Speech-4-034-000"
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"en.20140206.5.4-034-000"2
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"Madam President, as today is International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), it is important and appropriate that we discuss it here in the European Parliament. FGM is a completely horrific practice and 140 million women have suffered globally. Two million per year are still subjected to FGM, half a million of these in the EU. In my own country, over 3 500 women have been subjected to FGM, which is – as has been said – very often carried out against children and is a form of child abuse. It leads to many serious physical, medical and indeed psychological problems.
The Commission action plan is a good start. It sets out a roadmap for dealing with this and I commend the work of organisations which campaigned for this, such as the END FGM European Campaign, which was led by Amnesty International. Most EU countries now have legislation in place to ban FGM. Ireland was one of the last countries and that was very much due to the work of a young Somali woman, Ifrah Ahmed, who has been campaigning.
While legislation is necessary, I think there does need to be an emphasis on prevention as well. We need to change mindsets, because FGM can never be justified on the grounds of culture or religion. In December 2012, the UN carried a resolution condemning the practice. These resolutions were supported by all countries in the African Union, yet rates for FGM are more than 90% in the Horn of Africa. So I am glad to hear, Commissioner, that you say that the EU will pursue this with the External Action Service. Indeed, Ifrah Ahmed will be returning to Somalia next month to actually campaign on this issue.
We need more support here in Europe as well, to support professionals, teachers and social workers. We need data collection, but most of all we need a concerted effort to support the END FGM campaign. I call on all MEPs to support the petition which is at endfgm.eu."@en1
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