Female genital mutilation (FGM) still affects 600,000 women in the European Union, according to estimates by the End Female Genital Mutilation (End FGM) network. This point was made by Javier Zarzalejos (EPP, Spanish), Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), ahead of an exchange of views organised with the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) on this subject, which he described as “chilling”, on Wednesday 4 June.
According to the Chair of the FEMM committee, Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spanish), the first European directive against gender-based violence - which criminalises female genital mutilation - adopted last year (see EUROPE 13431/33) is “certainly a step forward, but it is not enough”.
“We need a coordinated approach supported by European Union legislation and funds”, she said.
Maria Mollica, team leader in the Gender Equality Unit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, defended the advances introduced by the text.
In this context, she mentioned the recognition of FGM as a specific criminal offence, minimum penalties (five years’ imprisonment), aggravating circumstances, the right of victims to specialist support, access to reconstructive surgery and the obligation to train health professionals.
She also mentioned the setting up of a future workshop to support the transposition of the directive.
The director of the End FGM EU network, Marianne Nguena Kana, explained that in Europe, nearly 190,000 girls are at risk, according to the network.
She denounced a “cruel lack of financial investment” and estimated that the global budget needed to achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goal (https://aeur.eu/f/h77 ) of eradicating FGM by 2030 would be $2.3 billion.
The expert from the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), Anna Rita Manca, said that the directive on victims’ rights - the revision of which is currently under discussion (see EUROPE 13619/3) - is “very important, because it reminds Member States that they must protect victims from secondary victimisation”.
Calling for FGM to be recognised as gender-based violence, she advocated ensuring that “victims have access to specialised support services”.
After explaining the different profiles of victims, she called for “targeted action, prevention, information, but also prosecution”.
Several MEPs have questioned the Commission about the practical implementation of the 2024 directive. Rosa Estaràs Ferragut (EPP, Spanish) called for “not waiting until the last minute for transposition” while Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spanish) suggested that mutilation carried out abroad could also be prosecuted in the EU, even if the acts were committed outside European territory.
Assita Kanko (ECR, Belgian) recounted her own experience: “My grandmother underwent FGM. My mother too. I was mutilated. My daughter was not. So I’m the last generation”.
The speakers called for the coordination of legal firmness, social action, community prevention and international cooperation.
To see the map of FGM in the European Union: https://aeur.eu/f/h6y (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)