As hundreds of activists, grassroots organisations, international NGOs and academics who gathered at the Women Deliver 2023 Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, we are exercising our collective power to highlight the urgent resourcing need for the End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting sector and launch the Kigali Declaration and the Call to Close the Funding Gap.

Over 200 million girls and women alive today from 31 countries have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and over 4 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM/C annually. And this number is on the rise. However, even these alarming figures fail to represent the full picture, as they do not take into account countries (particularly in Asia and the Middle East) which do not have national prevalence data on FGM/C. Another report highlights that FGM/C has been reported to occur in 92 countries around the world.

Despite positive changes in the the field of eliminating FGM/C in the last few decades, rapid population growth, insecurity and humanitarian crises in some countries with high prevalence rates, as well as emerging trends, such as medicalization of FGM/C threaten to roll back progress. This is exacerbated by the critical lack of funds to the end FGM/C sector.

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PREAMBLE 

  • FGM/C is a violation of the human rights of women and girls and must be ended in all its forms
  • We need to make FGM/C a global priority, in the same way the global community responded to other global epidemics, such as HIV/AIDs 
  • Our shared goal of ending FGM/C will not be achieved without comprehensive mainstreaming of FGM/C interventions into crisis response and recovery but also broader gender-based violence (GBV), health and development programming

Global Platform for Action to End FGM/C: An Explanatory Video

Global Platform presents: Global Solidarity

SUPPORTING CHANGE FROM WITHIN - CHALLENGING SOCIAL AND GENDER NORMS

  • We share a vision of a world free from FGM/C and will work in partnership with each other, all communities, governments, donors, multilateral bodies and others to end the practice by 2030 in line with the SDGs 
  • Whole communities must be mobilised and empowered at the grassroots level if we are to end FGM/C – women and girls, men and boys, traditional and religious leaders, health workers 
  • Ending FGM/C requires addressing the root causes of gender inequality at the community level, including gender stereotypes, unequal power relations, and negative social norms 

STRENGTHENING THE EVIDENCE BASE THROUGH CRITICAL RESEARCH

  • Fill the knowledge gap on FGM/C survivors’  specific needs, impact on economic empowerment, and behaviour change around emerging trends such as medicalisation and lower ages of cutting 
  • Use community-based participatory approaches within research efforts and ensure that research results and data are synthesised for communities to use 
  • Create, test, and implement standardised universal indicators that are informed by context specific measures and demand country-level reporting 

IMPROVING WELLBEING VIA SUPPORT AND SERVICES FOR SURVIVORS

  • More support is needed for survivors in various forms, including security and protection for survivors, targeted research and resources to enable health and emotional wellbeing
  • Enable the transformative power of survivors and survivor-led networks through support to connect with each other, other gender-based violence movements and capacity build 

ADDRESSING EMERGING TRENDS AROUND FGM/C

  • We need an integrated, intersectional approach to ending FGM/C recognising the connections with other forms of gender-based violence and linking with existing movements 
  • We are committed to working with religious leaders, health workers and governments to respond to adaptations to the practice which continue to violate women’s rights, such as medicalisation, cross-border practices, and lowering the age at which FGM/C is carried out 

INCREASING RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE THE GLOBAL GOAL

  • We call on all stakeholders to prioritise resources towards grassroots and community-led programmes. Funds should be more flexible, sustainable and accessible for communities and grassroots and capacity building should be provided as well as networks 
  • Investment is needed in better research into what is working and what is not to end FGM/C. This research needs to be participatory and involve multiple stakeholders and should be made available and accessible 
  • We are focused on coming together and working collaboratively to address what existing gaps there are, what are the costs of FGM/C, and what do we need to end this globally 

Global Platform for Action to End FGM/C: Youth Empowerment

A perspective from Global Platform member Malaika Somji

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Sign the Global Call to Action to End FGM/C! By collaborating and unifying our voices we can accelerate progress to end FGM/C by 2030, and help achieve SDG 5.3 (eliminate harmful practices).