A day dedicated to debating all together

For the 15th celebration of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation in Paris, for the first time, 14 organizations came together under the banner of "Collective Prevent and Protect" to organize a common event. Among them gathered two End FGM EU Network members: Equipop and Excision Parlons-En !.

The event was organised around two main themes: ‘Protection of children and adolescents’ and ‘Building bridges between Africa and Europe and community engagement’. The programme consisted of four conferences and an ephemeral museum showcasing information tools of participating organisations including the Network tool "How to talk about FGM" and the UEFGM platform. The event was attended by professionals from different sectors. Partner organizations from Mali shared their experience and explained how diaspora from the villages in Kayes region were involved in the promotion of the abandonment of FGM. The 2019 ‘Alerte Excision’ campaign of Excision Parlons-En !, was launched at this occasion.

Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State in charge of Equality between Women and Men, came and raised her concerns about protection of children and adolescents as well as the need to support community-based organisations and building bridges with Africa and other regions of the world. As France is presiding the G7 in 2019, Ms Schiappa announced that the country would bring Violence Against Women (VAW) as one of their three top priorities to the table, and that FGM and Child marriage will be a major part of it.