WARSAW/VIENNA, 6 February 2015 – Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and Ambassador Miroslava Beham, the OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues, today called on countries in the OSCE region to do everything in their power to protect women and girls in their countries from female genital mutilation.

“On this, the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, we have to be aware of our responsibility to prevent women and girls from suffering this cruel practice,” Link said. “States should continue to work to ensure that this terrible violation of the most basic human rights is prevented within their countries, as well as to find ways to prevent women and girls living in their countries from falling victim elsewhere. We need a systematic approach to the problem of violence against women, including female genital mutilation, as these terrible acts have a long-term impact not only on the victims themselves, but also on their families and societies in general. ”

“OSCE participating States have committed to preventing violence against women, and female genital mutilation is a form of violence of the most dangerous and personal nature,” Beham said. “Female genital mutilation leads to physical and psychological suffering, and is an attack on the inherent dignity of a person that causes long term health consequences and is sometimes fatal.”

The OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on preventing and combating violence against women from December 2014 in Basel calls on participating States to consider signing and ratifying the Istanbul Convention on violence against women and domestic violence. The Convention recognizes that many girls and women in the OSCE region are affected or threatened by female genital mutilation – a fact that has long remained unacknowledged.