Why should the British public care about FGM?

Strategy are making use of the rose motif as a shocking metaphor for female genital mutilation with out being graphic or offensive. Photograph: Prepare Uk

The latest Worldwide summit to end sexual violence in London was exclusive in its ambition not only in efforts to bring sexual violence in conflict to an end, but also in trying to engage the public in a difficult problem about which they had minor prior expertise and mostly no personal encounter or connection. The public came to understand about the effect of sexual violence in conflict, and the function that is becoming completed to end it as survivors conveyed their stories, there was a effective sense that together, men and women from about the globe were standing up against the perpetrators of these crimes.

As the United kingdom manager of a worldwide campaign for girls’ rights, Due to the fact I am a Lady, knowing and fostering this sense of solidarity is crucial. I have turn into keenly conscious of this as we re-launch our campaign this month, opening with a concentrate on violence towards ladies and girls and, in certain, female genital mutilation (FGM).

FGM is an issue that provokes strong reactions the visual appeal of an ‘us and them’ mentality is a threat. Men and women from communities affected by FGM may truly feel that other aspects of their culture are currently being challenged or degraded while these in unaffected communities could consider FGM as evidence of ‘alien’ values, feeding negative stereotyping.

For Strategy United kingdom, which is why it truly is all the far more essential that we deal with FGM as we do any other human rights violation. It should be stopped, and everybody – each girl, female, boy and man in every portion of the planet – can perform a element in making that happen.

No-one particular would disagree that the movement to finish FGM ought to be led from inside of the 29 nations in which the bulk of instances take place. Our focus is always to support the operate of nearby communities in identifying the underlying social norms that underpin FGM and difficult their persistence. But we ought to be clear that this isn’t going to – or should not – indicate that people in other components of the world can’t include their assistance.

An powerful campaign provides a voice to individuals affected by a problem and then encourages other people to amplify that voice. It recognises that rights are invalid if they are not respected universally and fought for across communities, cultures and continents.

A valuable comparison right here is campaigning on little one marriage. Like FGM, this is an concern that does influence folks in the Uk, but that does not pervade society in the identical way as it does elsewhere in the globe. Little one marriage will only be brought to an end by campaigns driven from inside of the nations of prevalence. But via our Take the Vow campaign, which ran in 2011, we asked the British public to declare their opposition to this practice on social media. This accomplished two things: first, we showed that folks can and need to care about issues that will not immediately affect them or even their local community. Second, it was made clear to decision-makers in the United kingdom that this was an problem on which voters desired action.

Rather than, as some might argue, undermining the indigenous campaigns, these routines assisted area the concern on the agenda. The UK’s Division for International Growth took much more discover of kid marriage when it saw that men and women in the Uk cared.

The sensitivities all around FGM make the public discussion more charged, but the exact same logic applies to this problem as to child marriage. The United kingdom public should not be afraid to increase its voice. Longstanding campaigners on the issue, each in the Uk and the global south, can draw strength from this assistance.

With this summer’s #FGMRose campaign, we developed a quick, shareable video, supporting a burst of social media activity with deliveries of roses to people who could influence modify and handouts to the public in central London. The rose motif is shocking with out currently being graphic or offensive. It has provoked robust reactions, and quite usually from men and women who had by no means just before regarded as what FGM was or how damaging a practice it is. Our aim was for the Uk public to feel differently about FGM and for that reason not be put off campaigning about it, fearing it is some kind of ‘niche issue’ that is greatest avoided. It’s now our most viewed video on YouTube by some distance.

At next week’s Woman Summit, David Cameron will seek to galvanise worldwide action to finish FGM and kid marriage in a generation. The Uk public are exhibiting they care – and the government understands it must respond. So when I am asked, as I have been, “why must ‘middle England’ care about FGM?” my response is clear: due to the fact it can make a distinction in ending it.

Colin Walker is campaigns manager at Prepare United kingdom. Comply with @colinwalkerplan on Twitter.

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Why should the British public care about FGM?