Intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female
genital mutilation
A/RES/77/195
all relevant conventions, together with the optional protocols thereto, as appropriate,
constitute an important contribution to the legal framework for the protection and
promotion of the human rights of women and girls,
Reaffirming further the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 12 which
reaffirms that all human rights, including the right to development, are universal,
indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, the Beijing Declaration 13 and Platform
for Action, 14 the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General
Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the
twenty-first century”, 15 the Programme of Action of the International Conference on
Population and Development 16 and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for
Social Development 17 and their 5-, 10-, 15- and 20-year reviews, as well as the United
Nations Millennium Declaration, 18 and the commitments relevant to women and girls
made at the 2005 World Summit 19 and reiterated in Assembly resolution 65/1 of
22 September 2010, entitled “Keeping the promise: united to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals”, and those made in the outcome document of the United Nations
summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, entitled
“Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, 20
Recognizing the role of local, national, regional, subregional and international
instruments and mechanisms in the prevention and elimination of female genital
mutilation, where they exist,
Recalling the undertakings and commitments on ending female genital
mutilation contained in Agenda 2063 of the African Union and the Protocol to the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa,
adopted in Maputo on 11 July 2003, which mark a significant milestone towards the
elimination and ending of female genital mutilation,
Recalling also the decision of the African Union, adopted in Malabo on 1 July
2011, to support the adoption by the General Assembly at its sixty -sixth session of a
resolution banning female genital mutilation,
Recognizing that female genital mutilation constitutes irreparable, irreversible
harm and an act of violence against women and girls that impairs and undermines the
enjoyment of their human rights, and recognizing also that it affects many women and
girls who are at risk of being subjected to the practice throughout the world, which is
an impediment to the full achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of
women and girls,
Reaffirming that female genital mutilation is a harmful practice and a serious
and life-threatening form of violence, constituting a serious threat to the dignity,
health and well-being of women and girls, including their physical, mental, sexual
and reproductive, and maternal health, as well as to the health of children, including
infants and adolescents, that it has no documented health benefits, that it may give
rise to possible adverse obstetric, prenatal and post-partum outcomes and may
__________________
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
2/9
A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.
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, annex I.
Ibid., annex II.
Resolution S-23/2, annex, and resolution S-23/3, annex.
Report of the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 5 –13 September
1994 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.95.XIII.18), chap. I, resolution 1, annex.
Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 6 –12 March 1995 (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8), chap. I, resolution 1, annex II.
Resolution 55/2.
See resolution 60/1.
Resolution 70/1.
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