Ms Helen Kijo-Bisimba, Executive Director and Members of the Legal and Human Rights Centre,Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen;
I am very pleased to participate in today’s workshop and indeed as its Guest of Honour. I do feel honoured, because the issue of Female Genital Mutilation is of utmost concern to my Government. I am happy that the Legal and Human Rights Centre are focusing on FGM in its activities and that it is marking the International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM by hosting this important event.
As you know, our hostess Helen Kijo-Bisimba took part in the International Meeting on the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation in Sweden and in Africa that took place in Stockholm in November and that was hosted by my Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs respectively.
The purpose of that meeting was to explore ways to how Sweden and Africa can cooperate in the eradication of FGM. FGM is banned under Swedish law and is considered a crime even if the act of mutilation has been carried out abroad. With more and more African immigrants coming to Sweden, FGM has become a national priority for my Government. A National Plan of Action was launched last year. It aims at eliminating FGM among the girls that live in Sweden and to give adequate support to those who have already been undergone it. The Action Plan targets immigrant groups, health care providers, municipal authorities, NGOs, schools and social services – all those that come into contact with these girls.
Representatives of ten African countries, UN bodies, international NGOs, the Swedish Parliament, religious leaders and immigrant groups in Sweden took part in the conference. The idea to convene the meeting came from former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, who was brutally murdered five months ago. She heard about the Conference on Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation held in Addis Abeba in February 2003 where the First Ladies of Africa adopted a Common Agenda for Action for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation and declared the 6th February of every year The Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM.
Anna Lindh was much impressed by this event and decided that Sweden must give its support to this work. By building bridges between African countries and Sweden and by learning from each other’s experiences she envisaged a deeper understanding of the complex aspects of FGM and its harmful effects on women and girls and a strengthened cooperation between Africa and Sweden.
We have seen today that FGM and other harmful traditional practices, which cause unspeakable physical and psychological trauma, are deeply rooted in the traditions and cultures of the peoples which practice them. The root causes for FGM are found in ignorance, in the inferior status of women and girls, manifested not least in control of female sexuality and in misinterpretations of religion. There is no scientific basis nor religious origin or justification for FGM.
A very welcome step in the right direction in Africa is the recent adoption by the African Union of a draft Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights relating to the Rights of Women according to which African States shall prohibit through legislative measures backed by sanctions all forms of FGM and other violations of human rights of women.
The Government of Tanzania has already demonstrated its will to fight FGM through the 1998 Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act that prohibits “cruelty to children”. However the Act does not mention FGM in particular and does offer any legal protection to adult women who undergo FGM. It is my strong hope that the Government of Tanzania, together with all its co-members of the African Union, will promptly sign and ratify the Protocol and put it info implementation as soon as possible.
Sweden is actively supporting the fight against FGM in Tanzania. In the framework of our District Development Programme in the Mara and Mwanza regions Human Rights training features as a priority for action through the involvement of grassroots. A Participatory Poverty Assessment was made and in that context many women have shared their negative experiences on FGM. Our host, the Legal and Human Rights Centre, has been training municipal workers, police and judges on Human Rights and Good Governance, with women’s rights in focus. We are pleased to support the Legal and Human Rights Centre in general and in these efforts in particular.
I strongly believe that in order to make legislation work there must be a political commitment from the highest level, to force the enforcement of the law and to change mentalities in order to change long-standing cultural and ethnic practices. In Tanzania, FGM is carried out in accordance with tradition and we must reach out to the peoples that strive to keep there traditions alive and to make them develop new forms of initiation rites for women and girls, - rites that hail their womanhood without causing them physical or psychological harm and violating their human rights.
I am in full admiration of the courageous people, who like Mama Regina, are prepared to stand up and stay STOP to FGM in very difficult situations – far different from this Conference Room. I am sure though that Mama Regina will be followed by many more Mama Reginas. I am afraid that there is a need of many courageous people like Mama Regina and Pastor Zakaya. I hope that they will serve as role models for other women and men in the battle against FGM.
The Swedish Government is closely following developments regarding FGM both in Sweden and in Africa. Through the Swedish support we are very pleased to be associated with the initiative and the work being done by the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania. I am confident that those of you who work against FGM in Tanzania are on the right track and I would like to wish you well in your important endeavours. My Embassy is following closely developments in Tanzania regarding FGM, and will continue to do so.
Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen!