UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Political leaders from 42 countries have called on the United Nations to adopt a resolution banning female genital mutilation worldwide, officials said.
In an international appeal published today in the International Herald Tribune, parliamentarians, political leaders and civil society activists from countries concerned urged the adoption by the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution to ban the practice, a release from the group No Peace Without Justice said Monday.
A U.N. resolution would change the perception of female genital mutilation to a clear human rights violation against millions of women around the world instead of merely a cultural, religious or public health issue, the NPWJ release said.
"A United Nations General Assembly resolution to ban FGM worldwide would step up and signal the international community's universal condemnation of this blatant human rights violation, with important implications worldwide," Alvilda Jablonko, FGM Program Coordinator of No Peace Without Justice said.
"It would serve to strengthen laws that currently ban FGM and provide new impetus for those nations that currently do not have such laws on the books," she said.
