End FGM EU's Letter of recommendations to the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU
As part of our advocacy efforts, every six months we send End FGM EU’s recommendations to the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union on matters related to FGM and Gender Equality.
On September 13, we addressed Spain with a letter of recommendations for their ongoing semester as Presidency of the Council. Based on the trio and Presidency’s programmes, we have welcomed some of their priorities and provided recommendations on increasing the attention to gender-based violence, female genital mutilation and related files.
Read the letter to the Spanish Presidency here
Among other things, we ask the Spanish Presidency to:
- Ensure the full implementation of key legislation for gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence, the Istanbul Convention in primis, as well as the Victims Rights Directive
- Lead Member States in the Council towards the adoption of a strong Directive on Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, that adequately protects FGM-affected communities and defends and advances the rights of all women in their diversity, with an intersectional approach
- advance negotiations towards a fair Migration and Asylum Pact, in line with the EU’s fundamental values and human rights guarantees, to ensure that all migration and asylum policies take into consideration the human rights of people on the move, in particular girls and women, and their right to receive international protection when affected or at risk of being affected by FGM
- support increasing resources available for cross-regional cooperation and to explore innovative financing mechanisms that make optimal use of all donor and donation opportunities to support the anti-FGM sector, particularly grassroots organisations.