THE 6TH OF FEBRUARY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ZERO TOLERANCE OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
EVERY 11 SECONDS 1 GIRL UNDERGOES FGM
11 MINUTES 60 BABIES DIE AT BIRTH
11 HOURS
33,000 PREGNANT WOMEN DIE
11 DAYS
86,400 EXCISIONS ARE CONDUCTED
©Min Chiu
204, route d’Arlon L-8010 Strassen
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Fondation Follereau Luxembourg is a Luxembourgish Development NGO committed to improving the quality of life of the most vulnerable African communities. Alongside its trusted partners, the foundation supports local, inclusive, and positive initiatives in response to local needs in health, éducation, de protection and humanitarian aid. Initially created in 1966 to fight against Leprosy, the foundation has, over the years, broadened its thematic scope of intervention to healthcare as well as education and protection while focusing its geographic scope of intervention on the African continent
HEALTH
EDUCATION
Construction and equipment of medical structures, awareness-raising activities, training of health workers, vaccination programs, screenings, and treatment for patients.
Providing a quality educational and vocational training, as well as covering all fundamental needs such as nutrition, psychological and medical care.
EMERGENCY
PROTECTION
Humanitarian aid in the Central African Republic to support the medical sector affected by the humanitarian and health crisis
Protection of women and children, including children at risk of human trafficking, forced labor and other forms of abuse as well as women who have undergone some form of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) FGM includes all non-medical procedures that result in the injury, partial, or total removal of a woman’s external genitalia. FGM is an internationally recognized violation of human rights. Nonetheless, in some countries where it is practiced, FGM is so deeply rooted in tradition that some members of the population find it difficult to speak out against it, even though a law prohibiting it already exists, as is the case in Burkina Faso. Why? Some communities consider FGM a rite of passage from girl to woman. As such, it is often a requirement for a woman to marry, which is why parents often choose FGM, despite the consequences, so that their honor can be preserved. The social pressure and the resulting fear of being excluded from society are stronger than the danger of life and death. Consequences FGM is typically done at home by traditional cutters* using a blade or a razor. FGM has many shortand long-term consequences, such as hemorrhages, infections, urine leakage, pain, fistulas, and difficulties during childbirth, sometimes leading to the death of mother and/or child. In Luxembourg In Luxembourg, the law of July 20, 2018 introduces a specific criminal charge for female genital mutilation as a result of the Istanbul Convention, which condemns and prohibits domestic and gender-based violence. Fondation Follereau Luxembourg In Mali and Burkina Faso, female genital mutilation is omnipresent. On average, 80% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone FGM. Together with COFESFA and AAB-FFL, Fondation Follereau Luxembourg fights against female genital mutilation and other gender-based violence (early and forced marriage, psychological and mental abuse, etc.) and to strengthen women’s rights. Several advocacy sessions are held among religious and political leaders to set an end to this tradition. Using their voices, the aim is to convince village leaders to sign off on the abolition of the practice. There is a lack of knowledge, even among populations affected by FGM, regarding its late effects. Providing full information about its risks and consequences is achieved by increasing community awareness and training healthcare professionals. Another part consists in the surgical and psychological care of the victims, the identification and sensitization of traditional cutters, as well as helping them in their professional reorientation.
*Source : Unicef
MALI million inhabitants, 50.4% of whom are women in 2020*. 82,7 % of women between the age of 15 and 49 were subjected to excision in 2015** 76,4 %of girls aged 0-14 years were subjected to excision in 2015**
1985
2000
Ratification of the Adhesion to the Optional Convention on the Protocol of the 1985 Elimination of All Forms Convention of Discrimination against Women
Between 2002 and 2018 The Malian government proposed several bills to prohibit FGM and gender-based violence. None of them were adopted due to the pressure from religious leaders in the villages.
Cercle de Kati COLLECTIVE OF WOMEN FOR EDUCATION, FAMILY HEALTH AND SANITATION - COFESFA Results over 4 years
77.590 34 9
people sensitized
female cutters identified, sensitized and professionally retrained
villages signed an agreement to abandon the practice
sources : * World Bank ** UN
BURKINA FASO 9 million inhabitants, including 10 million women in 2020* of women and girls aged between 15-49 have been subjected to some form of excision ** of girls under 15 have been subjected to excision *** 1990
1996
2018
Creation of a national Revision of the penal committee to fight FGM in code prohibiting the Burkina Faso practice of excision and punishing the perpetrators of FGM
«OECD SIGI-Burkina Faso country study: despite the introduction of this law, the practice remains widespread
Koulpélogo ASSOCIATION DES AMIS BURKINABÉS DE LA FONDATION FOLLEREAU (AAB-FFL)
+
Collaboration with the Rama Foundation for the care of women suffering from obstetric fistulas and prolapses Results over 4 years
270 4
women suffering from the after-effects of excision received medical care
cutters identified, sensitized professionally retrained
and sources : * World Bank ** United Nations *** UNICEF
TESTIMONIALS
©Photos : T.Winn
MALI
“
Ms DIARRA Kadiatou SANOGO Project officer at COFESFA
Young girls are unable to oppose their families’ decisions because they are always under their control and have practically no say in decision-making that concern them. When they learn about the consequences of FGM, they are shocked and confused by the situation in which they are powerless and defenseless because they have been subjected to excision without their consent. In general, those girls are the ones coming to confide in us, seeking to find a solution. As for the cutters, they talk about the concrete cases they have experienced, especially in relation to hemorrhages.
Girls aged 14 and under account for 44 million of the total number of people who are subject to excision
*source : Unicef
©Photos : T.Winn
ANONYMOUS
“
Man living in the project area MALI
I was fiercely against abandoning the practice because I thought that excision would enable sexual intercourse by removing the vagina closure of a woman . So if this ‘lid’ was not cut, the woman would not be a real woman. It was by participating in the information and awareness-raising sessions of COFESFA agents that I understood that the practice of excision is not a good thing and that we must fight for it to stop. I learnt a lot from the COFESFA agents, and I am aware of many things that I did not know. I therefore decided not to have my daughters undergo an excision so that they don’t suffer from this act.
Every 11 seconds a pregnant woman dies from preventable causes *Source: United Nations
TESTIMONIALS
©Photos : T.Winn
BURKINA FASO
“
Nicaise N’GATTA Director AAB-FFL
We see the real benefits of the projects on a daily basis. For example, thanks to the welcome we receive from people who benefit from the health centers: women get the chance to give birth in conditions that protect their own health as well as the life of their children. It is that feeling of gratitude that drives them and that they pass on to us. For us, there is no greater gratification. The family is not only the people with whom we share the same genetic heritage, but also the people who give our lives a touch of humanity, who add meaning to our lives, from the donors to the beneficiaries. The implementation of development cooperation projects does not only include the beneficiaries, but also the employments created, the families behind these employees, the intellectual enrichment of women like me.
2/3 of women and men in countries where FGM is practiced are against it
*source : Unicef
©Photos : T.Winn
ANONYMOUS
“
Woman taken care of by the Rama Foundation BURKINA FASO
I was cut at the age of 3. I have two living children and I gave birth three times. The first delivery was very, very difficult. The second was okay. The third was very difficult, the baby was stillborn. I was in labor for 4 days. That’s what triggered the fistula. My urine started to leak. I had to have a caesarean section. When my husband found out that my urine was leaking and I couldn’t control it myself, he rejected me. I went back to the village with my family. I suffered a lot. My uncle drove me to the hospital. A doctor told me about this association that helps women. I had surgery on three occasions. Now I am cured.
200 million girls and women are being subjected to excision worldwide *source : UNICEF
TESTIMONIALS
©Photos : T.Winn
MALI
“
SADIA Reconverted FGM cutter
We were seven girls to be cut on the same day. Three of us bled a lot and I was one of them. After I got married at 20, I often hid in the kitchen, behind bags or on the balcony, so that my husband would not find me, because intercourse was so painful. Despite this difficulty, I became pregnant with a little boy whose delivery was very difficult and lasted for hours. When I myself was a cutter, I participated in COFESFA’s animation and video projection sessions, and I understood that my pain was linked to the excision. I decided to abandon the practice. I invite everyone to stop FGM, given all the suffering it causes women.
49 % of Mali women are victims of gender-based violence *source : Nations Unies
EXTRAIT DU FILM « ÉPHÉMÈRE » Amadou COULIBALY awareness-raisin agent COFESFA – Mali
“
During my wife’s pregnancy, I play the role of the watcher. I keep an eye on the woman, the headaches, the stomach aches, the discomforts that the pregnant woman may face, I monitor them closely. When she is in pain, I feel it.
©Photos : T.Winn
I was there during all my wife’s pregnancies. I followed up on her regularly. I took care of her, I invited her to the health center for her prenatal consultations and I paid for her prescriptions. Even though I was often not very happy to pay for the prescriptions *laughs*. Every time she brought prescriptions, I paid for them.
EVERY 11 SECONDS
1 GIRL SUBJECTED TO EXCISION EVERY 11 SECONDS
1 VICTIM OF GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE EVERY 11 SECONDS
1 MOTHER AND HER BABY DIE DURING CHILDBIRTH
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