6 February 2017 – The United Nations today voiced grave concern about nearly two million Syrians in the area of Aleppo who have been without water for almost a month, as UN agencies are helping to provide emergency access to some of the people in need.

The UN spokesperson today told journalists in New York that an estimated 1.8 million people in Aleppo city and rural eastern Aleppo have been cut off from their main source of water, which is under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) control.

“The UN continues to respond to the water crisis by supplying fuel to operate 100 deep wells, and is supporting emergency water trucking, reaching nearly one million people in need of water assistance,” the spokesperson said.

The UN is also working closely with its partners, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, to deliver food, nutrition, health and other emergency items to rural Homs.

The inter-agency convoy delivered items to 84,000 people in hard-to-reach Talbiseh yesterday, for the first time since 19 September.

“This convoy is the first cross-line land delivery in February and only the second in 2017,” the spokesperson said.

He added that the UN continues to call for “unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to all 4.72 million people in hard-to-reach locations across the country,” including more than 600,000 in besieged locations.

Also today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) confirmed that Stephen O’Brien, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, completed a two-day visit to Jordan. The country is the third-largest host of Syrian refugees in the region.

During his visit, Mr. O’Brien met with senior Jordanian officials, including Prime Minister Hani Mulki and General Mahmoud Frihat, the head of the Jordanian Armed Forces. He also visited the Azraq refugee camp, which is operated by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

6 February 2017 – Speaking out against a ban and provisional suspension of a number of civil society organizations in Burundi, United Nations rights experts warned today of growing repression of human rights defenders and groups amid the already difficult environment in which they.

Also worrying, according to a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) were two bills adopted by the National Assembly of Burundi last December that require local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to obtain authorization from the Minister of the Interior for any activity and that the work of foreign NGOs must comply with priorities set by the Government.

“These moves are just the latest in a series of attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and association in Burundi,” said the rights experts.

“Disturbingly, these measures take particular aim at human rights defenders and independent civil society, and are being used to unduly obstruct and criminalize their work on broad and often fallacious grounds.”

Authorities in Burundi banned five civil society organizations in October 2016. In December 2016, they also barred two other groups, one of which was working for good governance and the fight against corruption. Additionally, four other organizations have also been provisionally suspended.

Relatives of a student killed in the Jabe neighbourhood of Bujumbura, mourn at home in the Burundian capital. Photo: Phil Moore/IRIN

Also in the release, the experts reiterated the “unanimous” strong stance of various bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council – the inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world – on allegations of serious human rights violations in Burundi, the experts called on the Governmental to “an end to the climate of impunity currently prevailing in the country” and to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi and with OHCHR in a positive and collaborative manner, as an essential step towards ending the major crisis facing the country.

“It is crucial that the State promotes and protects the rights to freedom of expression and association enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Burundi is a State party,” they said.

“All individuals, including human rights defenders, have the right to express themselves and associate freely, without fear of threats, intimidation, violence, arbitrary detention or enforced or disappearance,” the experts added.

The human rights experts voicing their concern included:

Independent experts and Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

6 February 2017 – While the exact number is unknown, at least 200 million girls and women in 30 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The World Health Organization (WHO) calls FGM a procedure that intentionally alters or causes injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons. In lay terms, babies, girls and women are cut and their genitalia severed. WHO underscores that it not only provides no health benefits, but may lead to a life-time of obstacles. Furthermore, the majority of females who have been subjected to the practice are between infancy and age 15.

No medical reason

A young woman in an Ouagadougou clinic in Burkina Faso has undergone reconstructive surgery to repair the damage caused by female genital mutilation at age 6. Photo: UNICEF/ Nesbitt

Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights of girls and women.

According to WHO, female genital mutilation has no health benefits, and it harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy, normal female genital tissue – interfering with their natural body functions.

In Mali, Fanta talks about the health complications she continues to experience as a result of female genital mutilation. While renounced in Sébétou Village in 2009, an estimated 85 per cent of Malian girls and women aged 15 to 49 have been subjected to FGM. Photo: UNICEF/ Asselin

It consists of all procedures that alter or injure female genitalia for non-medical reasons.

WHO also notes that the procedure has both short- and long-term consequences that range from severe bleeding and painful urination, to menstrual and psychological problems, cysts and infections. Sexual issues frequently ensue, childbirth complications arise and the risk of new born deaths increase. Subsequently, further surgeries are needed.

A dangerous tradition

Displaced women and men in Chad celebrate ‘circumcision’ days for girls by dancing together. During that time, several 11-years-olds were mutilated. Photo: UNHCR/ Hélène Caux

Female genital mutilation also violates women’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, along with the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The UN notes that the practice reflects a deeply-rooted inequality between the sexes, constituting an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls.

Reasons behind female genital mutilations vary from one region to another, as well as over time. They include a mix of sociocultural factors within families and communities.

In Ethiopia, 6-year-old Asmah was forced to undergo female genital mutilation procedure. Her mother Bedria believes that Asmah could not marry honourably without it, saying, “From our own experience we know that [cutting] causes problems. However because it is the tradition, we continue to do it.” Photo: UNICEF/ Getachew

Female genital mutilation is associated with misconceived cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are beautiful after removal of body parts that are considered unclean, unfeminine or male. It is often seen as a necessary part of raising a girl – a way to prepare her for adulthood and increase her chances of marriage.

In Senegal, a village imam, Mamadou Dia, sits with other village men in a meeting – also attended by women – explaining why their village, Tatin Bambara, still practises FGM. Photo: UNICEF/ Grossman

Studies show that where female genital mutilation is a social norm, pressure to conform, along with the fear of being rejected by the community, are strong motivations to perpetuate the practice. In some communities, FGM is almost universally performed without question.

According to UNICEF, the hazardous practice has even infringed on girls’ right to life – when it has resulted in their deaths as a result of shock, haemorrhage or septicaemia.

Taking a stance

In Kenya, Habiba refuses to subject her two youngest daughters – 7-year old Fathi, in white, and sister Kowsar – to female genital mutilation, fearing irreversible, life-long health complications, including psychological harm. Photo: UNICEF/ Christine Nesbitt

According to WHO, since 1997, great efforts have been made to counteract female genital mutilation, through research, work within communities, and changes in public policy.

Part of eradicating the practice is to find alternative occupations for FGM practitioners, such as being traditional birth attendants or teachers, and also cultivating situations in which men no longer wish to marry circumcised women.

Women from Samburu, Kenya, say no to female genital mutilation in public discussion gatherings. Photo: UNICEF/ Samuel Leadismo

Many target groups have been identified in the FGM elimination effort, including men, women, male youth, young girls and older women. It is important to reduce both the supply and demand for female genital mutilation.

Efforts should emphasize societal dialogue and community empowerment to collectively end the practice.

A former cutter in Uganda recommits to supporting the abandonment of female genital mutilation by appending her thumb print on a memorial during a cultural celebration event. Photo: UNICEF/ Nakibuuka

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) says “collective abandonment” – or when a whole community chooses to no longer engage in female genital mutilation – is an effective way to end the practice. It ensures that no single girl or family will be disadvantaged by the decision.

UNFPA says the decision to collectively abandon FGM requires a process in which communities are educated about the practice and that health and human rights aspects are prominently feature. Local and grassroots organizations should play an important role in the process.

Ending FGM once and for all

Girls in Côte d Ivoire attend a communal meeting organized by the NGO OIS Afrique, a UNICEF partner working with communities and female genital mutilation practitioners to end the harmful traditional practice. Photo: United Nations

Ten UN agencies published a statement highlighting that having gained more knowledge on the practice itself, the reasons for its continuation and interventions that can more lead to its abandonment, a common, coordinated approach could lead to female genital mutilation being abandoned within a generation.

WHO underscored that according to research, if practicing communities themselves decide to eliminate female genital mutilation, the practice can be eliminated very rapidly.

At a community meeting in Kabele Village, Ethiopia, former FGM practitioner Boko Mohammed holds the tool she used to use while performing the procedure. Photo: UNICEF/ Holt

The elimination of female genital mutilation has been called for by numerous inter-governmental organizations, including the African Union, the European Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as well as in three resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

UNFPA estimates the need to invest about $980 million to significantly impact FGM between 2018 and 2030.

United Nations steps-up action

Women attend an female genital mutilation sensitization session in Bamako, Mali. The session was run by UNICEF partner and local non-governmental organization (NGO) Sini Sanuma. Photo: UNICEF/ Bindra

Within the context of the UN, eliminating female genital mutilation is not a question of imposing external values on any particular country. UN resolutions in 2012, 2014 and 2016 on banning FGM, which include a target for its elimination in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), indicate strong political will from the international community to stem the dangerous practice.

The global SDG compact, adopted in 2015 by 193 Member States, calls for an end to FGM by 2030. Goal 5 on gender equality has a specific target to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.

In an Ethiopian health care centre, Amin Aleba, said, “My wife and I made the joint decision not to have [9-year-old Medina] cut because of information that we gathered from the community meetings held in our village by Rohi-Weddu… I now understand that it is better for the health of our daughters that they remain whole.” Photo: UNICEF/ Holt

Focusing on 17 countries, UNFPA and UNICEF together lead the largest global programme to accelerate the abandonment of female genital mutilation.

Entitled ‘Accelerating Change,’ the programme aims to protect women and girls from FGM through participatory, culturally-sensitive and human rights-based approaches. It also cares for survivors.

Working with governments, grass-roots partners and civil society – including religious and community leaders – Accelerating Change sets goals across legal and policy reform; services for prevention, protection and care; and collective actions in the social sphere.

Two girls in Senegal clap hands at an event celebrating the abandonment of female genital mutilation by several nearby villages. Photo: UNICEF/ Furrer