Declaration of the Djiboutian Network of Religious Leaders for the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation, Nairobi 9–10 October 2019.
Commitment description:We, participants of the regional workshop of Faith Based Organizations (FBO), committed to the abandonment of FGM, are committed to: • Recognizing that early marriage is a harmful practice, which is associated with violence against girls, has a negative and disproportionate impact and violates human rights. • Upholding that female genital mutilations represent irreparable and irreversible harm and an act of violence against women and girls, without reference to, nor association with, religious precepts, particularly those of Islam and Christianity, and that they affect many women and girls around the world. • Reaffirming that the practice of female genital mutilations poses a serious threat to women and girls’ health, including their physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health. This practice has no proven health benefits, and we are determined to do whatever it takes to eliminate it through effective awareness-raising activities and joint interfaith action along with public institutions and civil society to ensure that men, women, girls and boys in our communities abandon this practice. We are strongly committed to accelerating the abandonment of the harmful practices of female genital mutilations and early marriage.
Mode of engagement:
- Programmatic actionThe national network of religious leaders will take action to accelerate the total abandonment of FGM and early marriage with government institutions and civil society
Address gender-based violence and the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation(5) (a) Zero sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices, including zero child, early and forced marriage, as well as zero female genital mutilation; and (b) Elimination of all forms of discrimination against all women and girls, in order to realize all individuals’ full socio-economic potential.
