According to World Health Organisation information, every year, millions of women and girls in the European Union and around the world are subjected to the brutal practice of female genital mutilation. Many more are at risk.
Female genital mutilation is an extremely harmful practice that violates human rights, the rights of the child and the rights of girls and women to physical and psychological integrity.
On the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, on February 6, the European Commission reaffirmed its strong commitment to eradicating this unacceptable practice. And we are now taking action.
Today, my colleague, Cecilia Malmström, who is in charge of home affairs, and I will join human rights campaigners to call for zero tolerance for female genital mutilation.
We decided to team up with some very inspiring women and men: members of the European Parliament as well as the world’s leading anti-female genital mutilation campaigners, including ‘desert flower’ Waris Dirie, Khady Koita and Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso.
We will discuss how the European Union can help member States to eradicate the practice that is thought to have affected about half a million victims in the EU.
I want to ensure we make use of all the tools we have available at European level to support national and international efforts to end this unacceptable practice.
This is why we are launching a public consultation to gather views on how best to develop EU level measures to fight female genital mutilation.
National legislation prohibiting the practice is already in place in all EU member States.
We now need to complement this by raising awareness about the detrimental effects of female genital mutilation on the psychological and physical health of women and girls and by providing support services for victims.
Our top priority should be prevention: helping to ensure that no girl will ever again suffer from such a traumatic experience.
We also need to take care of the victims: in the EU, several hundreds of thousands of women are affected.
This means that thousands of women need special care during their pregnancies, that thousands of girls need protection and that thousands of older women, suffering of late complications, need support.
The new EU victims’ directive will make sure that victims of violence against women, including victims of this harmful practice, get the specialised support and attention they need.
We are making EU funding available to raise awareness of all forms of violence against women in the EU’s member States and to support NGOs and others working with victims.
You can help too: take your ‘zero tolerance’ picture and start spreading the word that there is no place for this brutality in Europe.
Everybody agrees that women should not have to suffer violence simply because they are women.
A recent report by the European Institute for Gender Equality finds that there are victims, or potential victims, in at least 13 EU countries.
Yet, this does concern all of us: just one single victim is too much.
The future of these girls and women is in Europe and it is our responsibility to stand up for them... and for all victims of female genital mutilation, wherever they may be.
The EU will fight to end female genital mutilation, not only on International Women’s Day but on all 365 days of the year.
Viviane Reding is vice president of the European Commission