The United Nations agencies and the European Union (EU) praised Egypt's efforts to tackle the problem and set up a National Committee for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation chaired by the National Council for Women and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.
Mr. Ibrahim Al-Afia, Minister Plenipotentiary and Director of Cooperation of the European Union, expressed his happiness at his participation today in this important conference. Praising the efforts being made by the Egyptian government to address this problem, and with the speed of the existing work, the National Committee for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation is certain to support the European Union for these efforts.
He pointed out that the European Union has worked for many years to protect children and has generated many initiatives in this field around the world. He stressed the importance of spreading awareness to the success of such initiatives, expressing his confidence to the National Commission for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.
Mrs. Belerta Aliko, representative of the United Nations Women's Fund for Women in Egypt, expressed her happiness with the steps taken by the National Committee for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. . She pointed out that the society should be free from this bad habit, pointing out that the aim of this event is to declare all of our commitment to work in society to face FGM, noting that the issue is related to human rights and women's rights.
Mr. Silvan Merlin, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), thanked all participants in this important campaign, pointing out that there is a strong commitment by the Egyptian government to address the problem, pointing out that the UN bodies support the efforts of the National Committee for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt.
The Director of UNICEF Egypt thanked Dr. Maya Morsi and Dr. Azza Al Ashmawi for the great initiative to eradicate female genital mutilation, stressing the readiness of UNICEF to support the role of the National Committee in Egypt, stressing that it is an important step towards the harmful practice of girls and limit their full access to health, education and income, as well as an offense criminalized by the law of Egypt. He stressed that the support would include providing alternatives to the needs of women who suffer the consequences of not committing this crime, supporting girls to express themselves and strengthening the society that supports their empowerment.
In the speech of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative Alexander Ploerosa, 25 years ago, when 11,000 people met at Cairo's Population Conference in 1994, they saw the image of a circumcised girl, stressing that anti-circumcision efforts began 25 years ago and now millions of girls are finally able to see the light at the end of the road, and Egypt should be proud of it. He expressed his happiness with the campaign's unanimous efforts to say that we do not negotiate FGM and we must stop it. He declared the commitment of the United Nations Population Fund to support the Government of Egypt and the exceptional leadership of the two Councils.
He pointed to his intention to travel to all governorates of Egypt to visit the villages to raise awareness, and each father and mother to recognize that FGM is unacceptable, and wished to celebrate 11 years in 2030 with the great results of this initiative.
Sun, Jun. 16, 2019
