Traditional or Customary Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Girls

A/RES/54/133No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 109Advancement of women, published in 2000.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 1998–2002

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/56/128

2002A/RES/56/128Traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girlsLatestCompare with previous version
2000A/RES/54/133Traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girlsCompare with previous version
1999A/RES/53/117Traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girlsCompare with previous version
1998A/RES/52/99Traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

15 topics

Child Health Cooperation Between Organizations Data Collection Female Genital Mutilation Financial Assistance Harmful Traditional Practices Health Services Information Dissemination International Obligations Laws and Regulations Public Opinion Signatures, Accessions, Ratifications Technical Cooperation Women's Health Women's Rights

What does this mandate say?

32 operative paragraphs

Welcomes:

The report of the Secretary-General, which provides encouraging examples of national and international developments;

The fact that the Commission on the Status of Women and the Commission on Human Rights addressed the issue of harmful traditional or customary practices at their sessions in 1999;

The fact that the General Assembly, at its special session for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, has addressed the issue of harmful practices;

The efforts undertaken by United Nations bodies, programmes and organizations, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Development Fund for Women, to address the issue of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, and encourages them to continue to coordinate their efforts;

The work carried out by the Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation of the United Nations Population Fund, including her visits to a number of countries, and the fact that she has been invited to other countries;

The work carried out by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children and other non-governmental and community organizations, including women’s organizations, in raising awareness of the harmful effects of such practices, in particular of female genital mutilation;

The fact that the progress made towards the elimination of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls will be considered during the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”;

Emphasizes the need for technical and financial assistance to developing countries working to achieve the elimination of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls from United Nations funds and programmes, international and regional financial institutions and bilateral and multilateral donors, as well as the need for assistance to non-governmental organizations and community-based groups active in this field from the international community;

Calls upon all States:

To ratify or accede to, if they have not yet done so, the relevant human rights treaties, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women2 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,3 and to respect and implement fully their obligations under any such treaties to which they are parties;

To implement their international commitments in this field, inter alia, under the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women,10 the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development8 and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights;7

To collect and disseminate basic data about the occurrence of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation;

To develop, adopt and implement national legislation and policies that prohibit traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, and to prosecute the perpetrators of such practices;

To establish or strengthen support services to respond to the needs of victims by, inter alia, developing comprehensive and accessible sexual and reproductive health services and providing training to health-care providers at all levels on the harmful health consequences of such practices;

To establish, if they have not done so, a concrete national mechanism for the implementation and monitoring of relevant legislation, law enforcement and national policies;

To intensify efforts to raise awareness of and to mobilize international and national public opinion concerning the harmful effects of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, in particular through education, the dissemination of information, training, the media, the arts and local community meetings, in order to achieve the total elimination of these practices;

To promote the inclusion of the discussion of the empowerment of women and their human rights in primary and secondary education curricula and to address specifically traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls in such curricula and in the training of health personnel;

To promote men’s understanding of their roles and responsibilities with regard to promoting the elimination of harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation;

To involve, among others, public opinion leaders, educators, religious leaders, chiefs, traditional leaders, medical practitioners, women’s health and family planning organizations, the arts and the media in publicity campaigns with a view to promoting a collective and individual awareness of the human rights of women and girls and of how harmful traditional or customary practices violate those rights;

To continue to take specific measures to increase the capacity of communities, including immigrant and refugee communities, in which female genital mutilation is practised, to engage in activities aimed at preventing and eliminating such practices;

To explore, through consultations with communities and religious and cultural groups and their leaders, alternatives to harmful traditional or customary practices, in particular where those practices form part of a ritual ceremony or rite of passage;

To cooperate closely with the Special Rapporteur of the Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child and to respond to her inquiries;

To cooperate closely with relevant specialized agencies and United Nations funds and programmes, as well as with relevant non-governmental and community organizations, in a joint effort to eradicate traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls;

To include in their reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other relevant treaty bodies specific information on measures taken to eliminate traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls, including female genital mutilation, and to prosecute the perpetrators of such practices;

Invites:

Relevant specialized agencies, United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations to exchange information on the subject of the present resolution, and encourages the exchange of such information between non-governmental organizations active in this field and the bodies monitoring the implementation of relevant human rights treaties;

The Commission on Human Rights to address this subject at its fifty-sixth session, thus allowing a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls on the human rights of women;

Governments, organizations and individuals in a position to do so to contribute to the trust fund that supports the work of the Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation of the United Nations Population Fund;

Requests the Secretary-General:

To make his report available to relevant meetings within the United Nations system;

To report to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session on the implementation of the present resolution, with a special focus on recent national and international developments, including examples of national best practices and international cooperation.

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