A few weeks before the European Commission adopts a draft directive to combat gender violence (see EUROPE 12653/16), MEPs have tried to draw the institution’s attention to the issue of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The issue was discussed on Tuesday 26 October in the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI), where two petitions urging the EU to do more to combat GMOs were discussed.
According to the European End FGM network, more than 600,000 women are living with the consequences of FGM in Europe today and 190,000 girls and women in 17 European countries are at risk of undergoing the practice.
The MEPs who spoke in committee welcomed the petitioners’ approach and stressed the importance of tackling this issue at European level too. EPP coordinator Agnès Evren (France) suggested leaving these petitions open for further analysis by the Parliament’s committees on women’s rights (FEMM) and civil liberties (LIBE).
The Chair of the PETI Committee, Dolors Montserrat (EPP, Spain), confirmed that she had received an opinion from the FEMM Committee on these two petitions and proposed to re-launch the PETI Committee in this regard.
Furthermore, Agnès Evren called, on behalf of her group, for an update of the measures taken by the Commission in this area.
“We do know that FGM is a severe violation of human rights”, said European Commission representative Christa Jakobsson in her first minutes in committee on Tuesday.
Ms Jakobsson, Policy Officer in the Commission’s Directorate General for Justice (DG JUST), stressed that the legal means for the European institution to act in this area are very limited. This, she said, was not related in any way to the Commission’s knowledge of the subject. “The Commission is very much aware of all types of FGM, including Type 4”, she continued.
The representative of the institution hinted that the issue of female genital mutilation would be addressed in the draft directive expected on 8 December, which “will have the same objectives” as the Istanbul Convention on gender violence (see EUROPE 12692/21), “which is to ensure that EU Member States have effective measures in place to prevent and combat violence against women and gender violence”, Ms Jakobsson said.
In addition to this legislative proposal, the Commission has committed itself in its strategy for gender equality (see EUROPE 12492/10) to present a recommendation on the prevention of harmful practices and to launch a European network for the prevention of gender-based violence and domestic violence. Christa Jakobsson also assured that the issue of FGM would be taken into account in both initiatives. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)