If you want to know more about the key developments in the fight against FGM since 2009, you can read them here.

2013

2014

  • 1 August: The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women (Istanbul Convention) entered into force in 2014. After years of the END FGM European Campaign, in partnership with our Members, this is the first legally binding treaty recognising that FGM is also a European issue.

2015

  • 8 July: The EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy for 2015-2019 was released and End FGM European Network fed into the consultation stage. It was the first time that FGM was mentioned as a key priority in EU external action, within a broader human rights policy.
  • 21 September: Gender Action Plan II (2016-2020) which had as a key pillar bodily integrity, including the elimination of harmful practices such as FGM.

2018

  • 7 February: The European Parliament's Resolution on zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation explicitly mentioned the End FGM European Network and its Members as key actors to end FGM. The resolution greatly reflected the vision of the End FGM European Network and stressed some important points that we advocated for throughout the past years and which shape our work. As well as highlighting the work of our Members, the European Parliament acknowledged End FGM EU as a key interlocutor on FGM in Europe and recognises the value of our work.
  • 3 July: The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a Resolution on the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation, to which End FGM EU contributed. For the first time it recognised migration as an important element in the work to end FGM and support Survivors.

2019

  • March-May: After two months of intense campaigning, 407 candidates from 23 European countries signed our 7-Point Manifesto! Almost 100 of these candidates were elected as new Members of the European Parliament in 2019-2024 and are now our cross-party allies.
  • Jan-December: The independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, GREVIO, incorporated End FGM EU shadow reports into their State Report recommendations for France, Finland and Portugal.

2020

  • 12 February: With a large cross-party majority, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on an EU strategy to put an end to FGM around the world, to which End FGM EU has greatly contributed and which calls upon the EU to ensure FGM is included in all EU policy processes.
  • 5 March: The European Commission launched the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, which plans a revision of the EU Communication on eliminating FGM and works towards a new EU Recommendation on Harmful Practices, including FGM. We contributed throughout the drafting stage by providing our expertise during the consultation stage. Our key asks of a needed revision of the EU Communication on eliminating FGM were reflected in the Strategy.
  • 25 March:EU Human Rights and Democracy Action Plan 2020-2025. It mentions FGM as one of the key areas of work within addressing Gender-Based Violence, after we had strongly advocated for it during the consultation phase.
  • 24 June: Victims' Rights Strategy 2020-2025. The comprehensive strategy pays particular attention to the specific needs of victims of Gender-Based Violence and includes "improving support and protection to the most vulnerable victims", as one of the key areas. Here, we contributed to this strategy throughout the drafting stage by providing our expertise during the consultation stage to advocacy targets and producing documents with our key recommendations.
  • 17 July: The Human Rights Council Resolution on FGM 2020. It explicitly mentions the humanitarian-development nexus as a key area of work to finally eliminate FGM through a comprehensive approach, which was one of our key advocacy asks, specifically drawing lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 30 July: United Nations Secretary-General progress Report on Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. It explicitly mentions a report by the End FGM European Network and partners within the Global Platform for Action to end FGM/C.
  • 13 November: After tireless ongoing advocacy with many other organisations, and intense negotiations between the Parliament and the Council, a deal on the next long-term EU budget was agreed, including the doubling of the Justice, Rights and Values Programme.
  • 25 November: The European Commission launched the Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025 which provides an emphasis on the elimination of FGM, within the first two key areas of engagement on ensuring freedom from all forms of Gender-Based Violence and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights. End FGM EU had strongly contributed during the consultation phase to obtain this result.
End FGM EU registered with company number 0553.761.815 uses cookies that are strictly necessary for our website to operate and to provide you with the services and features available on our website.

For more information about our use of cookies and the personal data we may process in this regard, please review our privacy policy and our cookie policy.