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PRESS
RELEASE
United Nations Population
Fund
Contact in New York:
Alex Marshall
Fax: (212)
557-6416
Reproductive Health
Round Table
Focuses on Violence Against
Women,
Including
FGM
KAMPALA, Uganda, 24 June--At a round table on
reproductive health and rights, the manager of a community project
in East Africa and the representative of a north European
non-governmental organization (NGO) offered suggestions on how to
eliminate the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in
indigenous and migrant populations. The meeting also considered
other forms of violence against women, and the prospects for
self-sustaining reproductive health programmes run by NGOs.
Fifty experts from around the world are attending the Expert
Round-table Meeting on Ensuring Reproductive Rights and Implementing
Sexual and Reproductive Health Programmes, Including Women's
Empowerment, Male Involvement and Human Rights. The UNFPA-organized
event at the International Conference Centre here is part of ICPD+5,
a year-long evaluation of progress in the five years since the 1994
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in
Cairo.
The tone of Wednesday morning's discussion on FGM--under the
theme of gender-based violence--was set by Jackson Chekweko, project
manager of one of the world's most successful efforts to eliminate
the scourge.
Uganda's Reproductive, Education and Community Health Programme
(REACH) has ended the practice in the eastern district of Kapchorwa,
just two years after its launching in 1996.
Jackson Chekweko, project manager of Uganda's Reproductive,
Education and Community Health Programme (REACH), which has ended
the practice in the eastern district of Kapchorwa, just two years
after its launching in 1996. The UNFPA-supported programme works
with elders, peer educators and health workers to create positive
cultural values and empower girls through education. REACH's
involvement of community elders in free discussion of FGM and other
reproductive health issues resulted in the 1998 United Nations
Population Award being given to the Sabiny Elders' Association.
The award will be presented in New York next month.
REACH succeeded, Mr. Chekweko told participants, by separating
FGM from the cultural values it was supposed to serve, proposing
alternative activities to sustain those ideals, and reaching out to
the custodians of community ethics. The approach grew out of a 1995
workshop of leaders, local elders, politicians, clergymen and youth
representatives.
The new approach was sought after a 1989 effort by the Ugandan
Government and some women's activists to ban FGM in Kapchorwa led to
a backlash in the district's Sabiny community, which took offense at
what they saw as attempts of "outsiders" to judge their culture as
barbaric.
The number of women who accepted FGM increased substantially as a
sign of resistance to outside interference. At one point, Kapchorwa
District even passed a law requiring the circumcision of all
women.
Mr. Chekweko recommended that culture-sensitive actions to
empower women and curb FGM should be taken in other parts of Africa,
where it is practised in nearly 30 countries. He said local
communities should occupy central positions in implementing any
programme, and that governments in consultation with communities
should design laws to protect women from all forms of violence.
Discussions of FGM should be included in school curricula, and
culture-sensitive research undertaken. Those who earn their income
by performing the practice need to be shown alternative ways to
support themselves, he added.
Ylva Sorman Nath, of the Foundation of Women's Forum in Sweden,
spoke about efforts to eliminate FGM in her country, where it is
practised among some Somali migrants. Sweden has banned FGM as a
violation of women's rights and independence, and has incorporated
guidelines about the practice into education and mother/child health
programmes.
"Legislation is a tool, but it has to be combined with preventive
work," she stressed.
Ms. Nath said a project in the city of Gothenburg works with
Somali doctors, African migrants, nurses, and schools to discourage
FGM. These efforts have succeeded in curbing the practice, even
though many Somali women still feel it is necessary to keep their
daughters eligible for marriage. She proposed encouraging religious
leaders to emphasize that the practice is not required by any faith,
and asking the media to highlight the ills of FGM and encourage its
elimination.
Wanda Nowicka of the Federation for Women and Family Planning, a
Polish NGO, argued that the health and education sectors in her
country needed to adopt a stronger stance to fight violence against
women, one which recognizes that "women and girls are victims of
violence simply because they are women". She recommended sex
education that promotes gender equality, and the use of the media
and advocacy tools to end the "culture of silence" on gender-based
violence.
Among many who spoke in the subsequent discussion, Anika Rahman
of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy noted that "violence
against women is global; it's endemic." Said Malika Ladjali of the
World Health Organization, an Algerian, "In my country, 2,000 women
were killed in two years just because they were women."
The round table then moved to the theme of access to
reproductive/sexual health and family planning services. A session
on the participation of the private sector, including NGOs, in the
provision of reproductive and sexual health services focused on
PROFAMILIA, a financially self-sufficient NGO which provides more
than 60 per cent of Colombia's family planning services along with
legal services specializing in family law. Maria Isabel Plata, the
group's executive director, spoke about the group's experience, and
answered questions about its applicability in other countries.
"A successful sexual and reproductive health programme generates
its own momentum," she stated. PROFAMILIA started distributing
contraceptives 30 years ago, at a time when pharmacies would not
carry them. It encountered opposition from the medical profession
and the Catholic Church, but the Government "left us alone," and the
programme grew by offering quality services. While donor support was
critical to this success, the group now has enough income to
subsidize services in poor and hard-to-reach communities and for
teenagers, a development facilitated by recent reforms in the
national health system.
Ms. Plata stressed the importance of NGOs being politically
independent and constantly correcting their mistakes. She also said
the reliance on cost-recovery prevents abuses. "We sleep better
knowing people have to pay for a tubal ligation or vasectomy. No one
is going to pay for something they don't want."
The presentations of technical papers were followed by
discussions.
Participants later broke into four working groups for more
detailed deliberations that will lead to recommendations on key
future actions.
Their themes are: policies for sexual and reproductive health;
designing quality sexual and reproductive health services; access to
services; and creating the conditions for implementing sexual and
reproductive health and rights.
On Thursday the experts will hear presentations by NGOs based in
the United States and South Africa, on the creation of conditions to
necessary to implement sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The round table will conclude with the adoption of recommendations
of key future actions. These will be proposed to The Hague Forum on
ICPD+5 in February 1999, and to the June-July 1999 special session
of the UN General Assembly that will conclude the review
process. |