{"id":43811,"date":"2014-06-17T15:15:32","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=048f2ad4b245392a5405740138a065ac"},"modified":"2014-06-17T15:15:32","modified_gmt":"2014-06-17T15:15:32","slug":"speech-uk-encourages-cameroon-to-pass-a-law-against-fgms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=43811","title":{"rendered":"Speech: UK encourages Cameroon to pass a law against FGMs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Votre Excellence le President de l\u2019Assembl\u00e9 Nationale, your Excellency the Minister for Promotion of Women and the family, Your excellencies D\u00e9puties of the National Assembly, ladies and gentlemen.<\/p>\n

Thank you for the honour of inviting me to speak here today. It is an enormous privilege and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to address you on such an important subject.<\/p>\n

The UK Government is committed to a world where all girls and women can fulfill their potential free from discrimination and violence. Female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage are two harmful practices which stand in the way of this vision.
\nIn the UK we are taking action against FGM and forced marriage, but there is much more to do. Globally we will not make progress unless we all work together \u2013 building on the leadership of the many developing countries whose governments and local communities are already standing up against these practices. <\/p>\n

En Engleterre nous luttons contre la mutilation g\u00e9nitale depuis plus de 20 ans. Mais la mutilation est toujours en croissance en Grande Bretagne. Incroyable mais vrais. Nous voulons travailler en partenariat avec vous au Cameroon pour faire face \u00e0 ces abus contre les enfants. Oui – la mutilation g\u00e9nitale des filles est un abus contre les enfants. Ceci est clair. Mais pourquoi est-ce n\u00e9cessaire de passer une loi ? C\u2019est une bonne question. Nous avons pass\u00e9 une loi en Angleterre il y a plus de 10 ans. J\u2019ai une copie avec moi aujourd\u2019hui. Je laisserai la copie au Pr\u00e9sident de l\u2019Assembl\u00e9e apr\u00e8s cette r\u00e9union et vous pourrez la regarder. Ce n\u2019est pas long. A peine 3 pages. Mais est-ce que nous avons vraiment besoin d\u2019une loi ? Nous nous sommes pos\u00e9 la m\u00eame question. La r\u00e9ponse est tr\u00e8s clair \u2013 OUI. Nous luttons toujours contre la mutilation g\u00e9nitale en Engleterre. Nous avons trouv\u00e9 que nous avons besoin de tous les outils possibles pour se battre contre les personnes qui veulent vivre dans le pass\u00e9, qui veulent continuer \u00e0 d\u00e9chirer l\u2019avenir de nos jeunes filles. Nous avons besoin d\u2019une campagne de publicit\u00e9 bien sur. Le soutien des chefs traditionnels, le soutien des religieux haut plac\u00e9s, de la publicit\u00e9 \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9vision et \u00e0 la radio, les articles dans les journaux. Mais en plus nous avons besoin de la force de la loi \u2013 surtout pour montrer aux personnes qui mutilent les enfants qu\u2019il y aura des cons\u00e9quences. Passer une loi c\u2019est montrer \u00e0 tout le monde que l\u2019Etat est contre la mutilation et l\u2019abus des enfants.<\/p>\n

\u2003
\nOn 22 July, the UK Prime Minister and UNICEF will host an event to bring together community leaders, grassroots organisations, governments, international organisations and the private sector to build on current efforts and rally a global movement to end Female Genital Mutilation and Early Marriage in a generation, everywhere, forever.<\/p>\n

There will be 3 main outcomes of the event: <\/p>\n

i) Sharing What Works – learning and celebrating success through:
\n\u2022 Highlighting examples of successful action by community leaders, governments and others to inspire attendees to replicate;
\n\u2022 Promoting discussions between professionals to share and embed effective practice;
\n\u2022 Launching and funding new data and research to inform and support action to end these terrible practices. <\/p>\n

I have seen best an excellent example of inspired action here in Cameroon. At the national day against Female Genitale Mutilation I was honoured to be invited to speak in support of Madame la Ministre pour la promotion de la femme et de la famille. The same morning I saw the Cameroonian comedians les Gue Gue Gue Internationales, oui les Gue Gue Gue Internationales, who were also speaking on the subject. They were very funny. And I have to say they were far more effective than me in getting the message across. At the end of their show no-one in the crowd could possibly not have understood how ridiculous and barbaric the act of Female Genitale Mutilation is. We need the Geu Gue Gue Internationals in the United Kingdom !<\/p>\n

ii) Agreeing an agenda for change – securing commitments to action:
\n\u2022 Agreeing a declaration to end FGM and CEFM within a generation;
\n\u2022 Announcing new actions by governments, civil society groups and private sector organisations to tackle FGM and CEFM, and calling on others to make similar commitments;
\n\u2022 Securing increased funding to tackle these issues. <\/p>\n

iii) Engaging people for change – inspiring a generation to declare support to end CEFM and FGM, including through:
\n\u2022 Launching a global social media campaign to raise awareness, signpost support and gather pledges;
\n\u2022 Hosting a UK youth pre-event to engage young people. <\/p>\n

\u2003
\nThe one-day Summit on 22 July will bring together activists, young people, professionals and political leaders. <\/p>\n

This is urgent. If we fail to take action internationally, within ten years it is estimated that over 15 million more girls in the developing world will marry as children, and more than 30 million will undergo FGM in Africa alone. In the UK alone, over 20,000 girls are at risk of FGM each year, and thousands are vulnerable to forced marriage. That is what is at stake, and that is why I urge you to:
\n–\tJoin the international movement to stop Female Genitale Mutilation and early marriage;
\n–\tEncourage your ministers to engage fully in the Girl Summit in London on 22 July;
\n–\tThirdly and most important. Pass a law quickly against Female Genital Mutilation to demonstrate your and Cameroon\u2019s determination to end this terrible abuse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.E Brian Olley addressing senators and parliamentarians during the June session in yaounde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}