First Girl Summit opens in UK
Girls and women have the right to live free from violence and discrimination and achieve their potential. Around the world, millions are prevented from doing so by harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child, early and forced marriage (CEFM).
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Forcing a girl into marriage can rob her of the right to choose her own future, and put her at greater risk of not going to school and dying through early childbirth. Poverty, lack of education and social norms are among the root causes of child marriage.
African countries with the highest rates of child marriage include Niger, where three in every four women are married before the age of 18, and Mali and Burkina Faso, where one in every two women are affected.
The figures are slightly better here in Ghana but the issue remains a great concern. In Ghana, one in four women are married before the age of 18 years; one in 17 before they are 15 years old. CEFM is more common in poorer households and among those with little education. Education is one of the most powerful tools to delay the age at which girls marry.
Human rights violation
FGM is a human rights violation and can have a lifelong impact on survivors’ physical and psychological health. The practice of FGM is almost universal in Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Egypt. FGM continues in Ghana despite the fact that there is a law against the practice.
Nationally, around four per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 years have been subjected to FGM. In the Upper East Region, three in every 10 women and girls have been subjected to FGM and in the Upper West Region, this is four in every 10. FGM has no health benefits but has harmful health consequences which include severe pain, shock, recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, infertility, newborn deaths and childbirth complications.
Things are changing. In the heart of communities and families around the world, more and more people are saying ‘no’ to these practices. Many communities have chosen to abandon the practice and are encouraging others to follow suit. Many governments in developing countries are already working to end these practices and have passed laws and developed plans.
In 2012, an Africa-led resolution calling for a ban on FGM was passed unanimously at the UN General Assembly.
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First Girl Summit
The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, will host the UK’s First Girl Summit in London on July 22 and 23, 2014, aimed at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end FGM and CEFM within a generation. UNICEF will co-host the event.
Girl Summit 2014 is being organised by the British government and is focusing on tackling FGM and CEFM.
Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, is attending the summit along with the queenmother of the Asante Mampong Traditional Area, Nana Agyarkomaa Difie II.
The summit will bring together girls, women and community leaders from the UK and other countries, alongside governments, international organisations, faith leaders, civil society organisations and the private sector to agree on actions to end these practices.
Participants
Participants will also share success stories and spread good practices in tackling these issues and will hear from girls and women who have lived through the ordeal of FGM or CEFM, and from individuals from affected communities who are driving change so that other girls and women can enjoy greater opportunities in the future.
Ahead of the summit, please pledge your support at www.girlsummitpledge.com to end these practices.
Sessions of the summit will be streamed live at http://www.girlsummit2014.org/
The writer is the British High Commissioner in Accra