Master Thesis

The Role and The Limits of International Law in Adressing Cultural Practices Harmful to Women and Girls The Case of Female Genital Mutilation Candidate number: 9015 Number of words: 18,000 !1 When the axe came into the forest, the trees said the handle is one of us. - Alice Walker, Possessing the Secret of Joy !2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would firstly like to thank my thesis supervisor, Joanna Nicholson, of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo for all her guidance and advice and for having allowed me to progress at my own pace while steering me in the right direction whenever that was called for. I would also like to thank my friends and colleagues Stuart Kartsounis and Nathan Erik Blikstad for having reviewed my work and provided me with invaluable comments and advice. I would equally like to thank my friend and colleague Michelle Logan for her readiness to read and reformulate difficult sentences and for helping me make sense. Finally, I would like to thank my good friend and colleague, Guillaume Ehrhard, for his support, patience, comfort, reassurance and for his academic input each time I was in need to discuss and challenge my findings. !3 List of Abbreviations ACHPR - African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights ACtHPR - African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ADRD - American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man CAT - Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment CEDAW - Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CIL - Customary International Law CRC - Convention on the Rights of the Child ECHR - European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR - European Court on Human Rights FGM - Female Genital Mutilation GR - General Recommendation IACHR - Inter-American Convention on Human Rights IACtHR - Inter-American Court on Human Rights ICCPR - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICJ - International Court of Justice UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN - United Nations UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund UNICEF - United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNGA - United Nations General Assembly VCLT - Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties WHO - World Health Organisation !4 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................7 1.1. Female Genital Mutilation.................................................................................... 8 1.2. Method and Methodology ..................................................................................10 1.3. Structure ............................................................................................................12 2. FGM in International Law ..............................................................................................13 2.1.The debate between cultural relativists and human rights activists concerning FGM ....................................................................................................................13 2.2.A detailed account of the international measures taken to eliminate FGM......... 16 2.2.1.International Treaties........................................................................... 16 2.2.1.1. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) ...........................16 2.2.1.2. The Convention on the Rights of the Child .......................19 2.2.1.3. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ...................................................21 2.2.1.4. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights & International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ..22 2.2.2. UN Resolutions ..................................................................................24 2.2.3. Regional Human Rights Conventions and Decisions ........................26 2.2.3.1. The European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court on Human Rights ..............................................27 2.2.3.2. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ............................28 2.2.3.3. American Convention on Human Rights and the Inter- American Court of Human Rights .............................................30 2.2.4. International and Regional Declarations ............................................32 2.2.4.1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights............................ 32 2.2.4.2. American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man ...33 2.2.4.3. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.............. 34 2.2.5. Interim Conclusion .............................................................................36 3. International Anti-FGM Norms Penetrating Into National Legal Orders ................38 3.1. The Influence of International Law on National Legislation .............................38 3.2. The Law and its’ Implementation in Some National Legal Orders ....................40 3.2.1. Guinea ................................................................................................41 3.2.2. Djibouti ..............................................................................................42 3.2.3. Egypt ..................................................................................................43 3.2.4. Burkina Faso ......................................................................................44 3.2.5. The judicial Treatment of FGM in Western Countries .......................45 3.3. The limit of the Law: FGM as a Social Issue Requiring a Holistic Approach ...47 !5 4. Grounds for State Liability and Available Remedies for Victims ...............................50 4.1. Grounds for State Liability .................................................................................50 4.2. Available remedies for victims ...........................................................................51 5. Conclusion: The Role of International Law in Eliminating FGM .............................53 Appendix I ............................................................................................................................55 References ..............................................................................................................................56 International Treaties and Conventions .................................................................................56 Other International Sources ...................................................................................................57 International Cases ................................................................................................................. 58 Domestic Legislation .............................................................................................................59 Books .....................................................................................................................................59 Articles ...................................................................................................................................59 Reports ...................................................................................................................................61 Newspaper Articles ................................................................................................................62 Websites .................................................................................................................................62 !6 1. INTRODUCTION “One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one” wrote Simone de Beauvoir in her infamous work The Second Sex in 19491, meaning that the mere fact of being born a female does not make one a woman, but becoming a woman is rather the result of one’s lived experience and of conforming through one’s behaviour to certain social expectations. Burke explains this well when she writes “It is not that there is a female body from which women are produced, but that the production or becoming of women actualises through the living body.”2 In some communities around the world, becoming a woman means having to undertake a rite of passage or ceremony. One such controversial rite of passage is female genital mutilation (FGM). In the Maasai community in Kenya, for instance, an uncircumcised woman remains a girl in the eyes of the community.3 In some communities where it is performed, FGM has strong links with ideals of femininity, of becoming a woman and of what it means to be a woman. This understandably makes it an important procedure in those communities. In other communities, girls and women are circumsised for religious or cultural reasons, but regardless of why it occurs, FGM is almost always accompanied by some form of social pressure to go through with the procedure. To put it simply, it is something girls and women in FGM-practicing communities are expected to do.4 However, because of the physical damage and health risks, as well as the psychological harm that FGM causes, the procedure is now internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, and it has prompted the international community to act to eliminate FGM. As I will show below, the measures that have been taken to reduce and to eliminate FGM have included legal means, such as establishing international, regional and national legislative frameworks. Additionally, practical measures have been employed,

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