At the commemoration of international Women’s Day 8 March, 2019, The Network against FGC in Somaliland (NAFIS) which represents 20 organizations across Somaliland reaffirming its strong commitment to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation in the following statement.
“All Somaliland girls and women have the right to live a life free of violence and pain. And yet, more than 99.5% of women and girls are survivors of FGC and many more are at risk of undergoing FGC”. Female Genital Cutting is a severe violation of human rights and of women’s physical integrity. It is a practice that amounts to torture and a degrading treatment that cannot be justified.
Yet, there are no legal frameworks in place to protect young girls undergoing this practice, henceforth;
NAFIS calls upon:
- Governmental institutions to commit working on the approval of the National Anti-FGC law/policy, which will accelerate a total abandonment of FGC in Somaliland and will ease the interventions by the various stakeholders at all levels.
- The Somaliland Civil Society Organizations should have a joint strategy to advocate ending FGC in 2030
On the other hand, poverty is high in Somaliland particularly women and children are amongst the most vulnerable, it’s observed that most of violence against women are caused by their vulnerability and limited access to education, economics and politics. Therefore, NAFIS is encouraging women to join the Self-Help Groups which is approved approach in improving women’s access to economics and wellbeing. The SHG approach has now more than 35,000 women and created more than 18,000 small businesses since 2014 which is a remarkable achievement for Somaliland. We urge Somaliland government to register Self-help group approach as a sustainable way of elevating poverty in Somaliland and think of it as a national agenda.
‘‘We remain committed to work until ending the harmful social norms”