NPWJ in the news

Four Kenyans to stand trial - ICC
AfricaNews Monitoring Team, 23 Jan 2012

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled that four senior Kenyan officials are to stand trial over violence after the 2007 election. The four - deputy prime minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, ex-minister William Samoei Ruto, Francis Kirimi Muthaura civil service head and cabinet secretary and Joshua Arap Sang. They are to face charges on murder, deportation and forced displacement, persecution, rape and sexual violence and other inhumane acts.The court has however dropped cases against Henry kosgei and Mohamed Ali - the former police commissioner.

However, Samooei Ruto has stated that he is still in the presidential race for this year and has asked his supporters to be calm. According to AfricaNews reporter Joyce Wangui, Ruto has stated clearly that he is going to appeal against the ruling.

More than 1,200 people were killed in weeks of unrest after the 2007 poll in that country and some 600,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

The violence began as clashes between supporters of the two rival presidential candidates - Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki - but it snowballed into a bloody round of score-settling and communal violence.

Reactions

In a sharp reaction to the ruling by the International Criminal Court, Alison Smith, Legal Counsel of No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ issued the following statement:

“No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) welcome Pre-Trial Chamber II’s decision to confirm charges against four individuals for crimes committed during the post-election violence in Kenya, which left over one thousand people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands. The decision to launch full trials against four of the six individuals charged  is a monumental step toward the achievement of justice for Kenyans. Impunity for political violence has been the norm in Kenya for far too long and this ruling by the ICC demonstrates that crimes against humanity must never go unpunished.

Standoff over who will try Saif Al Islam Qaddafi
By Ferry Biedermann , 13 Jan 2012

Libyan authorities, the international community and tribesmen from Zintan are at odds over the custody and eventual trial of Saif Al Islam Qaddafi, son of the former Libyan dictator.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague this week extended until January 23 a deadline for Libyan officials to explain what they plan to do with him.
Mr Qaddafi was last seen in public in mid-November, shortly after he was captured in the Libyan desert. Dressed in Bedouin garb rather than the designer suits he was accustomed to, he looked bedraggled and slightly confused, with one of his hands bandaged.
 
(...) The issue of Mr Qaddafi has become something of an embarrassment for international human-rights groups. While they used to condemn him and his father for their alleged violations, they now have to worry about him receiving a proper trial, particularly after the grisly fate of his father, Muammar Qaddafi, who was killed soon after he was captured.
Alison Smith of the Brussels-based group No Peace Without Justice explained that "the concern that everybody has is not so much with Saif Al Islam himself but with the system of justice at the national level and the international level".
She was confident that Libya could provide a fair trial for Mr Qaddafi. Human rights groups are divided on where the trial should take place but Mrs Smith said Libya was preferable. "They are very keen to make their own decisions after 42 years of oppression, not to be told what to do by somebody else."
Even so, the new Libyan authorities have an odd way of showing sensitivity to international human-rights concerns. Over the weekend they hosted president Omar Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan, who has been indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity.
 

ICC prosecutor to discuss Gaddafi son trial with Libya
The Star (Malaysia) / Reuters, 20 Nov 2011

(...)
This is the final chapter of the Libyan drama," Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam told Reuters. "We will put him on trial in Libya and he will be judged by Libyan law for his crimes."
 
The ICC has the right to put Saif al-Islam on trial only if Libya was unwilling or unable to do it, human rights group No Peace Without Justice said in a statement.
 
"We urge the ICC to be ready to try Saif al-Islam themselves, preferably in Libya, by ensuring it is ready to establish a field presence and begin outreach to victims and the affected communities immediately," the group said.
(...)

ICC to discuss Saif al-Islam trial with Libya
France 24 , 19 Nov 2011

(...)
The ICC has the right to put Saif al-Islam on trial only if Libya was unwilling or unable to do it, human rights group No Peace Without Justice said in a statement.
 
“We urge the ICC to be ready to try Saif al-Islam themselves, preferably in Libya, by ensuring it is ready to establish a field presence and begin outreach to victims and the affected communities immediately,” the group said.
 
The European Union urged Libya to work with the ICC to bring Saif al-Islam to justice, while NATO, which bombed Gaddafi’s military to help rebels topple the Libyan leader, said it trusted that Libya and the ICC would ensure justice for Saif.
(...)

Lutte contre les mutilations génitales, Un conclave du comité interafricain sur les pratiques traditionnelles
Le Patriote (Abidjan), 18 Nov 2011

Après Dakar, c’est au tour d’Abidjan d’abriter la campagne internationale pour l’interdiction mondiale des mutilations génitales féminines. La Fondation Djigui la grande espérance, coordonnatrice pays de ce grand conclave qui réuni tous les mondiaux de la lutte contre les pratiques traditionnelles néfastes, a organisé hier à son siège sis à Marcory résidentiel un point de presse pour donner les grandes articulations de cette rencontre internationale prévue du 19 au 21 novembre prochain Abidjan. Prenant d’entrée la parole, le président de la fondation Djigui la grande espérance, l’imam Cissé Djiguiba tout en présentant les missions de sa structure a indique que la rencontre du comité interafricain sur les pratiques traditionnelle (CI-AF) va examiner à la session d’Abidjan la situation de crise qui prévaut actuellement au sein de cette organisation. « Mais surtout adopter les modalités de renforcement de la collaboration avec partenaires mondiaux engagés dans la lutte dans le cadre du projet de résolution de l’’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies interdisant les mutilations génitales féminines dans le monde » précise, l’imam Cissé Djiguiba qui était entouré pour la circonstance de Ilwad Elmi et de Alvilda Jabloko des représentants de « no peace Without justice » une organisation sœur ,engagée dans lutte contre les mutilations génitales. MK 

Calls for Malawi to arrest al-Bashir get louder
The Maravi post (Malawi), 14 Oct 2011

BLANTYRE—More rights groups on Friday called for the arrest of Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, currently in Malawi attending the regional annual summit of the members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
 
“While it is certainly in the interest of President al-Bashir to expand the range of countries where he is seen to be able to travel with impunity, it is certainly not in Malawi’s interest to be considered a safe haven for war criminals,” No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) said in a statement from Brussels, joining Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Germany's Green Party who made the call on Thursday.
 
But Malawi’s information minister Patricia Kaliati has said al Bashir in Malawi “is a free man, an African leader, we have no issues with him to arrest him." 
 
Bashir is the first sitting president indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued a warrant of arrest against him for allegedly bearing the greatest responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.
 
“Hundreds of thousands of victims of the violence in Darfur now live as refugees as a result of the crimes committed against them…We call on the Court and States Parties to use all possible channels to press the Malawi government to execute the arrest warrant while President al-Bashir is in Malawi. 
 
“We further call on the Court and its States Parties to be clear with Malawi that there may be severe consequences for failure to comply with the Rome Statute,” the rights groups said, adding, “The judges of the Court could make a finding that Malawi’s non-cooperation would prevent the ICC from exercising its functions and could refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties or the United Nations Security Council as a result.” 
 
Malawi rights groups have also joined "the voices of concern" and called on the government of Malawi to arrest the "international fugitive". The groups are Human Rights Consultative Committee, Centre for Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, Gender Coordination Network and Center for the Development of People

International Justice Needs Local Hearings
By Michael Gibb and Alison Smith, Huffington Post, 01 Sep 2011

 
Today the International Criminal Court begins its first hearings to confirm charges against three of the six men accused of orchestrating the violence that followed Kenya's 2007 Presidential Elections, leaving over 1,000 dead and over 350,000 displaced. We interviewed many of the displaced during the spring of 2008 while working with Kenyan rights groups determined to confront a political culture prone to violence with justice through genuine accountability.
The ICC is a relatively new but potentially powerful instrument for holding those responsible for the most serious crimes to account, and these trials therefore represent an important step in Kenya's reconciliation process and towards ending the cycles of impunity that have blighted the country's recent political history.
The ICC must not forget, however, that its mission depends crucially on its ability to deliver a sense of justice and accountability to the victims of the crimes it investigates and prosecutes. Victims are the primary constituents of the Court's work. These are the communities that must have their faith in the rule of law restored through a clear sense that justice has been done and that any rewards for violence have been reclaimed, lest their grievances be allowed to slowly erode the prospects for a sustainable peace.
One of the most effective means of ensuring that victims are engaged in the justice process is by ensuring that trials are held in or near their communities where possible. This is an unquestioned assumption in most domestic criminal cases, and the stated preference of many victims' groups. How can victims be expected to engage fully in a judicial process when it is conducted thousands of miles away?
The Rome Statute, the ICC's founding document, clearly recognises the importance of administering justice locally through the so-called "principle of complementarity," which limits the Court's jurisdiction to case where the State itself is unwilling or unable to conduct trials of its own. While the ICC sits in The Hague, the statute therefore clearly allows it to convene elsewhere, particularly where this will help bring justice closer to victims.
A recent review conference convened to discuss the Court's progress over its first ten years also reaffirmed the centrality of victims to its work, and stressed that the Court needs to dramatically strengthen its presence in situation countries, as well as other aspects of its outreach programme.
Regrettably, and despite numerous proposals to hold some or all of its proceedings in Kenya, hearings have today started in The Hague. This is a decision is consistent with the Court's continued reluctance to conduct trials in countries where the relevant crimes have been committed.
There are, of course, circumstances that might make such local hearings impossible. The primary concern of any investigations and trials must be the wellbeing of witnesses and victims, including their physical and psychological welfare. The reality of many of the post-conflict societies in which the Court operates is unfortunately such that this cannot be guaranteed.
There is, however, little to suggest that the Court has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the current security situation in Kenya. The Prosecutor himself has noted that "no security assessment has been conducted that permits the Chamber to determine that conducting the proceedings on site will be in accordance with the Rome Statute's security requirements." Furthermore, little thought appears to have been given to whether the relevant security concerns could be mitigated or managed in a way that would make it possible to conduct some proceedings in affected communities. Nor, if its security concerns are indeed well founded, does the Court appear to have seriously considered conducting some of its hearings in neighboring Tanzania, which already hosts the international criminal tribunal tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the genocide in Rwanda.
Breaking cycles of impunity that reward violence and undermine trust in the rule and institutions of law is an ongoing project. The ICC has an important role to play in this project, but to succeed it must do more to engage victims in its work from the very onset of its investigations and throughout its trials. Advocacy groups such as No Peace Without Justice are now working to ensure that the Court's decision does not set a precedent that presumes against conducting trials in affected communities in the future, and to encourage the ICC to strengthen its protection and support mechanisms victims and witnesses. This is crucial not only to ensuring the Court lives up to its potential in Kenya, but to the long-term project of building sustainable peace through universal international criminal justice.
 

Iraq: Radicali, oggi conferenza stampa di Non c'e' Pace Senza Giustizia
AGENPARL, Roma, 01 Jun 2011

"Nel complesso contesto iracheno post-totalitario, una delle questioni ancora aperte è la riforma delle istituzioni politiche e il ritorno a una società civile democratica dove tutte le sue componenti possano trovare spazi d'espressione, a partire proprio dalle donne, ancora oggi escluse dal dibattito politico e culturale. L'associazione Radicale Non c'è Pace Senza Giustizia, che in partnership con l'Ong irachena Alleanza Internazionale per la Giustizia e con il sostegno del Ministero degli Affari Esteri italiano lavora dal 2006 per favorire il processo di transizione verso la democrazia e lo Stato di diritto, lancia un progetto volto a promuovere il ruolo delle donne negli spazi pubblici di discussione politica e culturale in Iraq. Il progetto, condotto insieme a Minerva e a Law, verrà presentato oggi mercoledì 1 giugno alle ore 11.00, con una conferenza stampa che si terrà presso la sede del Partito Radicale in via di Torre Argentina 76, da: Bakhtiar Amin, ex ministro per i Diritti Umani e direttore esecutivo di Alleanza Internazionale per la Giustizia (Iraq); Emma Bonino, Vicepresidente del Senato e fondatrice di Non c'è Pace Senza Giustizia; Safia Al-Souhail, attivista per i diritti umani e parlamentare (Iraq); Marco Pannella, leader Radicale e presidente del Senato del Partito Radicale Nonviolento Transnazionale e Transpartito; Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, Segretario Generale di Non c'è Pace Senza Giustizia; Stefano Quierolo, ministro plenipotenziario, Direzione Generale per i Paesi del Golfo, Ministero degli Affari Esteri; Pierluigi Severi, Minerva; Laura Guercio, LAW; Gen. Salvatore Carrara, ex Consigliere Militare della Delegazione Diplomatica Speciale a Baghdad che ebbe un ruolo fondamentale nei rapporti Italia-Iraq per la ricostruzione del settore della Difesa". Lo si legge in una nota dei Radicali.
 
 

Top Bosnian Serb general implicated in trials of deputies, faces heavy evidence of genocide
By Arthur Max, Daily Journal/Associated Press, 30 May 2011

AMSTERDAM — One of Ratko Mladic's most senior commanders was in no doubt who was ultimately responsible for the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July of 1995.
"This chain of command originated with Mladic," argued Radislav Krstic, the corps commander of the forces that controlled this part of eastern Bosnia, where the slaughter unfolded.
Through much of the 16 years Mladic was in hiding, evidence has been accumulating in the case files of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal of his key role in genocidal crimes in Bosnia, as one after another of his subordinates were sent to prison.
In one sense, Mladic has already been tried by proxy. His name figures large in the testimony and documents at the trials of Bosnian Serb army officers, including Krstic and three others who have been convicted of genocide-related charges for the mass killings in eastern Bosnia.
The slaughter in Srebrenica was of such a scale that tribunal judges drop legal niceties in describing it. As one verdict put it, the weeklong bloodbath were crimes "committed with a level of brutality and depravity not previously seen in Yugoslavia ... and are among the darkest days in modern European history."
The judgment in Krstic's 2004 appeal upheld the lower court's finding that "Mladic directed the operation." The defense and prosecution "agreed that General Mladic was the main figure behind the killings."
At question for the court to decide is whether Mladic was ultimately responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deliberate massacre at the U.N.-declared safe zone.
"Whatever was done behind his back, he has nothing to do with that," Darko Mladic told reporters in Belgrade, where the former general was taken following his capture last week.
Even if proven true, Mladic could be held to account for war crimes. Earlier cases have established a principle of "command responsibility," holding that commanders are liable if they failed to prevent or punish illegal actions of their men.
"You don't necessarily have to give direct orders," said Alison Smith, the legal Counsel for the Belgian-based group No Peace Without Justice.
The difficult task for prosecutors, as in all genocide cases, is to prove Mladic's prior intention to eliminate the Muslims from the enclave by any means.
"Somebody had to have that intent. That's why the Karadzic trial is so interesting," said Geraldine Mattioli of Human Rights Watch. "And that's why the Mladic case will be interesting."
The third man at the pinnacle of the command structure was former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The three were accused of plotting together to drive non-Serbs from areas of Bosnia to carve a Greater Serbia from the ruins of Yugoslavia.
Milosevic died in 2006 as his four-year-long trial in The Hague was nearing an end.
 

Women in Iraq: seminario internazionale sui diritti delle donne
Valentina Vitaletti, Agenzia Radicale, 30 May 2011

Calcio di inizio stamani per il Seminario internazionale sul tema "La condizione giuridica della donna e il diritto di famiglia" che proseguirà anche domani presso l'Aula Magna dell'Università degli studi di Roma Tre. L'incontro, rivolto ad esponenti del mondo femminile e delle istituzioni irachene e curde, vede un nutrito panel di esperti confrontarsi sulla questione fondamentale e non più procrastinabile dei diritti delle donne in queste due realtà.
Obiettivo del Seminario è promuovere un reciproco scambio di conoscenze tra la cultura giuridica italiana ed europea e quella irachena. Tutto ciò attraverso una panoramica dell'evoluzione legislativa e del sistema giudiziario civile e penale, dei progressi fatti in campo di diritto di famiglia, assistenza e sicurezza sul posto di lavoro, della protezione penale contro le violenze in queste società apparentemente così distanti. La speranza è quella di poteraiutare le donne ad assumere un ruolo di leadership nello spazio pubblico iracheno, senza però dimenticare la tutela della figura femminile, sia sul piano dei diritti personali che di quelli familiari.
Infatti, nonostante la storia della lotta per diritti delle donne sia iniziata più di tre secoli fa, l'idea che "i diritti umani delle donne e delle bambine sono un'inalienabile ed integrale parte dei diritti umani universali", affermata nella Conferenza di Vienna del 1993, è piuttosto recente. E la successiva Dichiarazione contro la violenza sulle donne votata dall'Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite, ha per la prima volta abbattuto le barriere che impedivano al diritto di ingerire nella sfera del privato, dove la donna subiva e subisce ancora oggi continue violenze in nome della cultura e della religione. Proprio su questo nuovo terreno ci troviamo quindi a confrontarci, sperimentando una nuova dimensione dei diritti umani.
E su questo terreno si sono trovato oggi a discutere anche Safia Al Souhail, Maysoon Al Damluji, Intisar Al Jubuori, tre donne membri del Parlamento iracheno, la Dottoressa Rezan Kader, Alto Rappresentante Kurdistan iracheno in Italia, Maha Al Sakban, direttore del Centro Diritti della Donna, Houzan Mahmoud di OWFI - Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq- ,Kasim Abdula Jasim, avvocato del Ministero della Donna Iracheno. Assieme a loro alcuni italiani: Francesca Brezzi, docente di Filosofia morale dell’Università Roma Tre e delegata del Rettore per le Pari Opportunità, Marisa Ferrari Occhionero, professore straordinario di Sociologia all’Università La Sapienza di Roma e membro dell’Osservatorio Interuniversitario sugli Studi di genere, Parità e Pari Opportunità, Carlo Guglielmo Izzo, avvocato, già giudice del Tribunale di Roma, Laura Guercio, presidente di Law, Paolo Iorio, avvocato, presidente onorario di Avocats Sans Frontières.
Promotrice del Seminario la società cooperativa Minerva, che da oltre trent'anni affronta tematiche femminili nazionali ed internazionali, affiancata da Law - Legal Aid Worldwide - una onlus di avvocati e professionisti di diritti umani e civili.
 
 

L'affermazione della donna in Iraq, lunedi' workshop a Roma
AGI / Il Velino, 27 May 2011

Un patrimonio di norme, legislazioni e best practice al servizio dell'Iraq. Uno scambio di esperienze e testimonianze per capire come e' cambiato il Paese dalla caduta del regime di Saddam ad oggi, mentre prosegue sulla strada della stabilizzazione e del consolidamento delle istituzioni. E soprattutto una riflessione sugli strumenti per affermare il ruolo culturale e politico delle donne nel processo di ricostruzione democratica. Questi gli obiettivi di un progetto realizzato con il contributo del ministero degli Esteri dall'organizzazione Non c'e' pace senza giustizia, in partnership con l'associazione irachena International Alliance for Justice, Minerva e Law, onlus di avvocati ed esperti di diritti umani e civili. L'iniziativa riguarda una serie di seminari formativi, che prenderanno il via lunedi' a Roma con un workshop internazionale nell'aula magna dell'Universita' Roma Tre dedicato al tema della condizione giuridica della donna. Ad animare il dibattito un panel di relatori italiani ed iracheni, che discuteranno di diritti in Iraq e di tutela della donna nella legislazione italiana ed europea. Nutrita la delegazione irachena che partecipera' ai lavori del seminario.
Interverranno, tra gli altri, Safia al Souhail e Intisar al Jubori, membri del Parlamento, Kurdo Omar Abdullah, a capo dell'antiviolenza contro le donne presso la direzione del ministero dell'Interno di Bagdad e Maha al Sakban, direttore del centro diritti della donna. Contributi arriveranno anche da parte italiana, con interventi di esperti e giuristi. Il seminario di lunedi' e martedi' - promosso da Minerva, societa' cooperativa con esperienza trentennale in materia di tutela della donna - sara' seguito da altri cinque incontri, la gran parte dei quali nel Kurdistan iracheno, da definire nell'arco dell'anno.
 

War crimes suspect arrested
UPI, 26 May 2011

BELGRADE, Serbia, May 26 (UPI) - Serbia's BIA intelligence agency and the Service for Discovering War Crimes apprehended Mladic Thursday morning.
Mladic, the former military leader of Serbs in Bosnia, is wanted by the Hague Tribunal on genocide and war crimes charges.
B92 said Mladic had been going by the name of Milorad Komadic. The arrest took place in the village of Lazarevo, near the town of Zrenjanin in northern Serbia.
Police said an identity check and DNA analysis were being conducted to confirm the suspect's identity. Officials said the suspect held "some identification documents of Ratko Mladic and was physically very similar to him."
The arrest was confirmed by Serbian President Boris Tadic at a news conference in Belgrade Thursday.
Human-rights group No Peace Without Justice hailed the arrest.
"No Peace Without Justice and the Non-violent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty herald today's arrest of General Ratko Mladic as a victory for justice and a critical step in the healing of the former Yugoslavia," said the organization's attorney, Alison Smith.
"Nearly 16 years ago, Bosnian Serb forces under the command of Gen. Ratko Mladic executed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys and forced another 25,000 women, children and elderly people to leave their homes. The massacre was found to constitute genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2004, a finding reaffirmed by the International Court of Justice in 2007."

In prima linea contro le mutilazioni
Viviana Spinella, Il Tempo, 17 Feb 2011

 
Incontro alla Farnesina per dire basta alla pratica di circoncisione, infibulazione ed escissione e tutelare le donne. A settembre la risoluzione approderà all'Assemblea generale dell'Onu.
 
La marcia non si ferma. Attivisti, istituzioni e società civile sono in cammino verso l'Assemblea generale dell'ONU di settembre, quando approderà al Palazzo di Vetro la risoluzione per la messa al bando delle mutilazioni genitali femminili. L'Italia è in prima linea in questa battaglia di civiltà. Per dire basta alla pratica della circoncisione, infibulazione, escissione, e tutelare tutte quelle donne vittime di abusi e di una pratica violenta che non trova giustificazione. Dopo la presentazione a Palazzo Wedekind della campagna «Decidi tu che segno lasciare», promossa dall'associazione «Non c'è pace senza giustizia», ieri l'incontro alla Farnesina con gli attivisti africani impegnati, sul campo, nella lotta alle mutilazioni genitali femminili. «L'appuntamento di settembre è l'obiettivo che ci siamo prefissi - ha spiegato il direttore generale della Cooperazione italiana, Elisabetta Belloni - e abbiamo una buona possibilità di riuscirci. Evitare che venga violato il corpo di una donna è una battaglia che non si può non vincere: se non sarà a settembre, accadrà comunque nel lungo termine».
Una campagna a livello internazionale che parte da due presupposti: da un lato affermare un diritto umano che non ha a che fare - come spesso erroneamente si ritiene - con questioni religiose o mediche; dall'altro promuovere la cosiddetta «ownership» africana, ovvero spingere affinché a farsi promotori della risoluzione ONU per la messa al bando delle mutilazioni genitali femminili siano proprio i Paesi dove la pratica è più frequente. Il perché lo spiegano proprio gli attivisti africani. Come Rahim Kamara, della Sierra Leone, direttore dell'Associazione "Manifesto 99": «Nei nostri Paesi ci sono molte resistenze, sia culturali che politiche. Data la preoccupazione dei nostri rappresentanti di perdere voti, è difficile che la questione possa essere affrontata di petto. La risoluzione ONU ci consentirebbe di utilizzare un approccio più sottile». Come la Sierra Leone, sono 29 i Paesi africani dove è praticata questa violenza sulle donne, cui si aggiungono Kurdistan, Bolivia, Yemen, Arabia Saudita, Indonesia. Oltre 120milioni le donne mutilate, secondo le stime più recenti, 2milioni in più ogni anno, 8 mila giovani vittime ogni giorno. Un tentativo per una legge repressiva del fenomeno, in Camerun, è stato fatto, ma senza alcun risultato: «Oggi 28 Paesi hanno istituito un Comitato nazionale che si occupa del problema - spiega Comfort Effiom, direttrice del Comitato inter-africano - ma solo 17 Paesi hanno adottato leggi restrittive. E così c'è una vera e propria migrazione per praticare le mutilazioni nei Paesi dove non sono ancora vietate».
Per vincere questa battaglia, però, non basta l'interessamento della politica. C'è bisogno di uno sforzo di divulgazione: «Noi cerchiamo di tradurre le leggi nelle lingue locali per farle comprendere alle popolazioni, anche nelle aree rurali dove la pratica è molto diffusa- continua Comfort Effiom - Ma serve anche un sostegno finanziario per abbattere tutti gli ostacoli che incontriamo». Un'opera di sensibilizzazione, quindi, che va di pari passo con l'azione di pressione politica. In Italia la campagna «Decidi tu che segno lasciare», promossa dall'associazione «Non c'è pace senza giustizia», fondata dalla senatrice Emma Bonino, e sostenuta da Il Tempo, va avanti per abbattere il muro dell'ignoranza e dell'indifferenza. Sul sito internet www.noncepacesenzagiustizia.org è possibile lasciare la propria firma per la messa al bando di circoncisione ed infibulazione. «In soli sette giorni - spiega Loredana Di Guida di Pan Advertising - abbiamo registrato 17mila firme e 28mila visitatori della pagina. Un ottimo risultato, che deve crescere ancora di più».
 

Bando universale delle mutilazioni genitali femminilli: incontro tra le attiviste africane e la funzionaria del Ministero degli Affari Esteri
Radio Radicale, Roma, 16 Feb 2011