VZCZCXRO3345
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0059 0160947
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 160947Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9710
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000059
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF/SE
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SU
SUBJECT: FORGING A STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE FGM IN SUDAN
1. (SBU) The National Council for Children's Welfare (NCCW) in Sudan
held a conference in late December 2007 to announce its strategy for
eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision.
UNICEF and PLAN Sudan also attended, as did Dr. Samia Ahmed Mohamed,
Minister of Social Welfare, and Amira Al-Fadel, Secretary General of
the National Council for Children's Welfare.
2. (SBU) The ambitious goal of the conference was to establish a
national strategy that would eliminate FGM in the next ten years, or
"in a generation." Sudanese human rights activists and government
officials also participated, lending some credibility to the
proceedings. However, technical advisor Nahid Jabrallah told
poloff that the Sudanese government did not provide any financial
assistance to the project's efforts to end FGM, but did provide
office space and four local employees. The remainder of the
project's cost was covered by UNICEF.
3. (SBU) Fifteen percent of FGM procedures in Sudan are
infibulations, the most extreme form. According to the NCCW,
traditionally between eighty and ninety percent of girls under 18
years of age have been subjected to FGM. A technical committee was
formed in early 2007 to develop a strategy aimed at eradicating the
procedure, with representatives from the ministries of health,
education, and information as well as NGOs. In late 2007, a bill was
passed by the National Assembly and signed by the president
criminalizing the procedure, a major step for Sudan.
4. (SBU) The conference recommended several steps: providing
universal health care for children; media campaigns; building
capacity of organizations and NGOs working to end the practice;
creating a database and conducting researches and studies; dealing
with FGM as a social issue and not solely a women's issue; and
engaging religious leaders in spreading awareness of the dangers of
the procedure. The government of Sudan is one of the signatories of
the 1990 International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to a national survey conducted in 1999, FGM was performed
on ninety percent of Sudanese girls, but the NCCW says that through
its work and increased awareness of the dangers of FGM, this number
was reduced to 69.4% in 2006. These numbers obviously indicate some
success, but also reveal how difficult it is to break such a
culturally ingrained, though incredibly harmful, procedure.
FERNANDEZ