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interest!)
Nearly 200 practitioners and advocates gathered at CGD recently
for an update on efforts to end within a generation female genital
mutilation (FGM) and child, early and forced marriage. A satellite
event for a Girl Summit in London hosted by British prime minister
David Cameron and UNICEF, the
CGD event was organized in conjunction with British Embassy,
Girls Not Brides USA,
and the Coalition
for Adolescent Girls.
Welcoming the audience to the Birdsall House, CGD president
Nancy
Birdsall said that she had agreed to name the conference center
in her honor provided that it serves not only as a space for
presenting CGD’s own work but also as “a welcoming venue for the
community concerned with women and development and gender
equality.” She described CGD’s previous work on girls’ health and
education (see
here,
here and
here) and said that CGD senior fellow Charles Kenny is
leading efforts to “find where we can have value added to an
incredibly rich body of policy work and research.”
Patrick Davies, deputy head of mission at the British Embassy,
then described the Summit’s core themes: “Sharing What Works” and
“Agreeing an Agenda for Change.” Quoting from prime minister
Cameron’s remarks at the London event, Davies said: “It is
absolutely clear what we are trying to achieve. It such a simple,
but noble and good ambition, and this is to outlaw the practice of
female genital mutilation and early and forced marriage; to outlaw
them everywhere, for everyone within a generation.”
The first panel, on Sharing What Works, was moderated by Judithe
Registre, PLAN International USA, Coalition for Adolescent Girls
Steering Committee, and featured:
- Ann Warner, Senior Gender and Youth
Specialist, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW),
Representative, Girls Not Brides, who highlighted ICRW
strategies to help end child marriage: (1) providing social support
and education to girls who are at risk of early marriage and who
are already married, and (2) working with girls’ families and
communities as girls often don’t have the power to control their
own futures. Warner announced ICRW and the World Bank will be
conducting a three-year study to define the economic costs of child
and early forced marriage.
- Antonia Kirkland, Legal Advisor,
Equality Now, stressed that ending FGM—which she said
affects an estimated 3 million girls each year—is a human rights
issue. While enforcement of laws prohibiting FGM can be a major
deterrent, ending FGM will require further raising awareness and
educating people about how they can help to prevent the
practice.
- Jeanne Smoot, Senior Counsel for
Policy and Strategy, Tahirih Justice Center, described a
2011 US national survey of 500 teachers, police officers, domestic
violence advocates and social workers, which revealed 3,000 cases
of forced marriage had been encountered in the US. She announced
that the Tahirih Justice Center, in collaboration with a partner in
Canada, will be launching a major outreach tour this September in
New York.
Between panels, a brief video of UN General Secretary Ban Ki
Moon from the London event was shown. Secretary Ki Moon called for
the end of FGM and early and child forced marriages and commended
“global leaders and brave activities for confronting these
problems, especially the courageous young women in these affected
communities.”
The second panel, on Agreeing an Agenda for Change, focused on
UK and US governments’ commitments to help end FGM and early and
forced marriages. The panel was moderated by Rachel Vogelstein,
Director of Women and Girls Programs, Clinton Foundation, and
featured:
- Emma Wade, Counsellor of the Foreign and Security
Policy Group, British Embassy, who shared the UK
government’s efforts, including donating
$50 million to support 17 African countries to end FGM,
$40 million to a joint UN program around ending child marriage,
and $50 million to a new research program to find the best ways of
transforming the lives of poor girls. Domestically, the UK has
established and is enforcing relevant laws to provide the legal
framework to address such issues and prime minister Cameron has
committed
$2.4 million to a prevention and care initiative.
- Carla Koppell, Chief Strategy Officer and former Senior
Gender Coordinator, US Agency for International
Development, underscored that an integrated framework to
ending FGM and child marriage – i.e., one that includes the
education, health, legal and economic sectors – is critical to USG
efforts. She also reiterated USAID administrator Raj Shah’s
announcements from the London event, highlighting that the USG has
committed to investments in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Yemen that will
build on existing programs and complement efforts to change
behaviors and attitudes and enforce laws surrounding FGM and child
marriage.
- Wanda Jones, Assistance Secretary for Health,
Department of Health and Human Services, noted that data
on the prevalence of FGM and child marriage in the US has been
extremely limited. Efforts to raise awareness and build
accountability for these issues in the US are just beginning, she
said.
You can watch a video of the entire event here. To
learn more about FGM and child and early forced marriages, and to
sign the Girl Summit pledge, visit girlsummitpledge.com.