A/HRC/RES/38/6
Welcoming the commitment made by States to achieve gender equality and the
empowerment of all women and girls in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 4
and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, 5 adopted as the outcome document of the Third
International Conference on Financing for Development,
Recognizing that female genital mutilation is a harmful practice that violates, abuses
and undermines the human rights of women and girls, that it is linked to other harmful
practices and violations of such rights, which it perpetuates, and that such practices and
violations, in turn, pose a serious threat to the health and well-being of women and girls,
including their physical integrity and their mental, sexual and reproductive health,
Recognizing also that the practice has no documented health benefits and may, on
the contrary, increase the risk of sickness and death, that it causes severe stress and shock,
that it may give rise to post-partum and obstetric complications such as fistula or
haemorrhage, and that it is likely to increase vulnerability to HIV and hepatitis C and B and
to cause other health problems,
Recognizing further that the practice of female genital mutilation continues to have
an adverse effect not on only the economic, legal, health and social status of women and
girls, but also on the development of society as a whole, while the empowerment of and
investment in women and girls, their full enjoyment of their human rights and their full,
equal, effective and meaningful participation at all levels of decision-making are key to
breaking the cycle of gender inequality, discrimination, gender violence and poverty and
are critical, inter alia, to sustainable development,
Recognizing that female genital mutilation and all other harmful practices are mainly
motivated by gender inequality and patriarchal social norms that jeopardize the recognition,
enjoyment and exercise of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls,
and that harmful practices constitute a human rights violation and a form of violence
against women and children,
Recognizing also that harmful practices such as female genital mutilation are an
impediment to the full realization of gender equality and the empowerment of women and
girls, respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls and the
development of their full potential as equal partners with men and boys, as well as the
achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,
Convinced that such harmful practices seriously impede the implementation of
legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and human rights and
prohibit gender-based discrimination,
Deeply concerned that, despite increased national, regional and international efforts,
the practice of female genital mutilation persists in all parts of the world and that new
forms, such as medicalization and cross-border practice, are emerging,
Concerned about evidence of an increase in the incidence of female genital
mutilation being carried out by medical personnel in all regions in which it is practised,
Recognizing that the practice constitutes torture or ill-treatment and must be
prohibited, in accordance with regional and international human rights standards, and that
the trend towards the medicalization of female genital mutilation does not make it any more
acceptable,
Expressing deep concern about the lack of effective measures for prosecuting
perpetrators and providing victims of female genital mutilation with access to remedies and
redress, health care and health services, psychosocial counselling, legal assistance and
socioeconomic reintegration services,
3
4
5
2
Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4–15 September 1995 (United Nations
publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II.
General Assembly resolution 70/1.
General Assembly resolution 69/313, annex.
GE.18-11905