Rome – On the fight to eliminate female genital mutilation “Italy has managed to harmonize diplomatic initiatives in favor of women’s rights with the cooperation interventions, promoting all-encompassing strategies” but the results obtained, albeit important, “are not definitive”: indeed, they need to be considered” reversible until they become a rooted cultural and civil heritage”. So stated Benedetto Della Vedova, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, opening the international conference “Ban FGM” on the banning of female genital mutilation. The conference is part of the BANFGM project, funded by the Italian Development Cooperation in 2014, on the political, institutional and legal aspects of eradicating female genital mutilation (FGM) in the French-speaking African countries – Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. “We want to reach the zero tolerance rate – said Lalla Malika Issoufou, First Lady of Niger -. The percentage is decreasing and although there are ethnic and regional disparities, we are not so far from the objective. ” (9colonne)
