Towards a Change of Culture Leading to a Gender-Balanced Approach

In this column, Emma Bonino, the Italian minister of foreign affairs, writes about progress made in strengthening women’s rights, and the challenges that still lie ahead.By Emma BoninoROME, Dec 23 2013 (Columnist Service) The past three years have been very important to scale up the movement to protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and, particularly, to eliminate female genital mutilation worldwide. We saw the political momentum growing and culminating December 2012 with the consensual adoption by the General Assembly of Resolution 67/146 banning female genital mutilation worldwide. On that occasion all United Nations member states sent a strong political message about their commitment. The resolution calls upon member states to ensure effective implementation of international and regional instruments protecting women’s rights and to take all necessary measures to prohibit female genital mutilation. The resolution was an important step forward; it is now our responsibility to ensure its effective implementation. The recent UNICEF report reminds us that despite the best efforts towards its abandonment, female genital mutilation still persists. For this reason, during the General Assembly this year we organised a side event, together with Burkina Faso, UNFPA and UNICEF, to share specific contributions that governments and international institutions have made to the commitments undertaken with the adoption of the resolution. Genital mutilation is onl...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Active Citizens Civil Society Development & Aid Gender Gender Violence Global Governance Globalisation Headlines Human Rights Population Poverty & MDGs Regional Categories United Nations Women's Health World Female Genital Mu Source Type: news