E/2007/27 E/CN.6/2007/9 Reaffirming also the Beijing Declaration13 and Platform for Action3 and 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”,4 the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development14 and the Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development 21 and their five and ten-year reviews, as well as the United Nations Millennium Declaration16 and the commitments relevant to the girl child made at the 2005 World Summit, 22 Recalling the entry into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women of Africa, adopted in Maputo on 11 July 2003, which contains, inter alia, undertakings and commitments on ending female genital mutilation and marks a significant milestone towards the abandonment and ending of female genital mutilation, Recalling also general recommendation 14, concerning female circumcision, adopted by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its ninth session; paragraphs 11, 20 and 24 (l) of general recommendation 19, concerning violence against women, adopted by the Committee at its eleventh session; paragraphs 15 (d) and 18 of general recommendation 24, concerning article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on women and health, adopted by the Committee at its twentieth session; and taking note of paragraphs 21, 35, and 51 of general recommendation 14, concerning article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 23 adopted by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its twenty-second session, Recognizing that female genital mutilation violates, and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of the human rights of women and girls, Recognizing also that female genital mutilation is an irreparable, irreversible abuse that affects one hundred to one hundred and forty million women and girls alive today, and that each year a further two million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure, Reaffirming that harmful traditional or customary practices, including female genital mutilation, constitute a serious threat to the health of women and girls, including their psychological, sexual and reproductive health, which can increase their vulnerability to HIV and may have adverse obstetric outcomes, as well as fatal consequences, and that the abandonment of this harmful practice can be achieved only as a result of a comprehensive movement that involves all public and private stakeholders in society, Noting that negative discriminatory stereotypical attitudes and behaviours have direct implications for the status and treatment of girls and that such negative stereotypes impede the implementation of legislative and normative frameworks that guarantee gender equality and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, __________________ 21 22 23 07-28248 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. See General Assembly resolution 60/1. General Assembly resolution 2200 (XXI), annex. 25