How can the US better protect girls from violence?

GlobalPost

WASHINGTON — Two critical recent events — one in the United Kingdom and one in the US — have given increasing recognition to the rights of adolescent girls.

The Girl Summit in London to end child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) was co-hosted by the UK and UNICEF. “Investing in the Next Generation” was a focus of discussions among more than 40 African heads of state that came to Washington for the first-ever US-Africa Leaders Summit.

Ensuring that the next generation is protected and empowered are major objectives in the domestic and international policy statements emanating from both meetings. In particular, the rights of adolescent girls are being increasingly recognized as a barometer of progress.

Ending human rights abuses such as FGM in one generation is a welcome objective that can become a reality only if governments commit to developing, funding and implementing comprehensive action plans. Among them are laws that criminalize FGM and an active civil society to hold governments accountable to their commitments. The harmful social norms and practices that perpetuate violence and discrimination against women and girls must also be addressed.

At the Girl Summit, commitments were made by NGOs and governments, including the US, which agreed to address FGM both at home and abroad. The Obama administration understands that ending this tragic human rights abuse in a generation must be a global effort grounded in strong partnerships nationally and internationally. Its success also requires big, bold conversations in every country about how women and girls are viewed and treated throughout the world.

The US has shown a stronger commitment with the passage of the “Girls Protection Act” in late 2012, which made it illegal to take girls out of the country for “vacation cutting.” In African and other countries, it is considered a sacred right of passage for families to send their daughters back to their ancestral homes for the summer, a trip intended to help them connect with their families and traditions, but which often included genital cutting.

At the UK Summit, the US announced it would carry out a major study to establish how many women are living with the consequences of FGM in the United States and how many girls are at risk. A US commission also will set up a working group to end FGM nationally.

Organizations and activists had been working for many years within US communities and pressing the government to make a serious effort to end FGM. The tipping point came largely in response to a 24-year-old FGM survivor, Jaha Dukureh’s, from Gambia. Her change.org petition, part of The Guardian newspaper’s media advocacy campaign, drew more than 220,000 signatories to which the US has responded.

A similar moment occurred in the UK in response to a petition in late 2013 from Equality Now and Leyla Hussein, an FGM survivor. Our campaign against it was part of a concerted strategy that included advocacy and engagement with government departments, police services, royal medical colleges and child protection agencies.

In early 2013, the Evening Standard, with encouragement from Equality Now, launched its hugely successful media campaign to engage the wider public and increase pressure on the government to fulfill its requirement to protect girls at risk. Following this, The Guardian launched its campaign that has been a success in the UK and the US, and is now gearing up to work in other parts of the world.

The US may want to model its response on this inclusive partnership in its effort to protect girls at risk. In President Obama’s words: “The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women.”

We can learn, too, from the African countries that have shown success in ending FGM. According to UNICEF, Kenya has led the way. Under the Prohibition of Genital Mutilation Act of 2011, incidence of FGM has fallen 49 percent to 15 percent.

The country recently set up an Anti-FGM Board to ensure the law is implemented alongside education and child protection measures. In addition, the Kenya Directorate of Public Prosecution has established an Anti-FGM Unit. Kenya’s example is the result of many years of advocacy and campaigns by civil society holding the government accountable to its commitments.

UNICEF estimates that in the coming decade more than 30 million girls will be at risk, a signal of how much more work is ahead, both in the US and abroad.

It is timely that the US is gearing up to implement laws and policies that recognize FGM as a human rights violation rather than a cultural practice. As President Obama recently stated: “there are some traditions that just have to be gotten rid of … Female genital mutilation, I’m sorry, I don’t consider that a tradition worth hanging onto.”

How will the US government proceed? Will the US Senate ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and endorse a focus on adolescent girls in the Post 2015 Development Agenda? Will it note successes from other countries on ending FGM and will it lead the “bigger, bolder” discussion on the treatment of women and girls in societies worldwide?
These are major questions that remain.

Shelby Quast is Equality Now's policy director. Prior to joining Equality Now, she worked with the International Legal Assistance Consortium, which she co-founded in 2001, on global post-conflict legal reform. She also founded the Partners for Gender Justice, a network of the UN member states.

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