Final Conference CHAT

On May 16th, Fondazione L’Albero della Vita, in partnership with 5 EU partners, has organised the conference “Female Genital Mutilation: the phenomenon in Italy and Europe. Sharing Perspectives among political institutions, civil society and private sector.”

The conference represents the closing event for the two-years project CHAT but, at the same time, it aims at building up new collaboration and enforcing partnership to enhance FGM prevention in Europe.

Researchers and representative of political institutions, civil society organizations and companies have brought their precious contribution to analyse the complexity of FGM phenomenon in a broader framework, including human rights approach that considers FGM as a violation of basic fundamental rights, as well as the necessity to adopt an intercultural communication approach based on dialogue and exchange of experiences to promote an in-deep change in behaviour.

Lack of data, underreporting and the hidden nature of the practice make grasping the extend of the phenomenon quite challenging; despite that, the latest research on FGM in EU countries reaffirm that FGM is not only an “African” issue but they represent a concern for the European Union, calling for a broad range of expertise and engagement to prevent and combat FGM, in EU itself and in the country of origin.

Prevention, awareness raising, dialogue, international protection, advocacy for a political and legislative framework, orienting toward a more active Corporate Social Responsibility against FGM and GBV have been highlighted as fundamental factors to be pulled out to prevent FGM practice and encourage the process of mobilisation that CHAT project has been promoting since the beginning.

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Keywords: chat, final conference, Rome