The Swiss section of the United Nations Children’s Fund has handed in almost 20,000 names calling for stronger measures against female genital mutilation.
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The petitioners who filled in an online electronic card are calling on parliament to anchor criminal law provisions in the Swiss penal code against all forms of the practice.
Unicef Switzerland’s campaign was launched on February 6, the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, an annual United Nations awareness event.
The printed cards were handed in to Anita Thanei, president of the legal commission of the Swiss House of Representatives on Monday – International Women’s Day.
Unicef Switzerland, which has led a campaign opposing the practice for years, says such mutilation is carried out every ten seconds on a girl somewhere, with three million affected every year.
It adds that female genital mutilation is a gross infringement of the right of a child to physical integrity and the right to grow up healthily and in safety.
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First court case of genital mutilation
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The Zurich prosecutor’s office has launched criminal proceedings against two parents originally from Somalia who had their daughter genitally mutilated at their home in the Zurich Oberland when she was two. “You have to give a signal that children growing up in Switzerland have to be protected from mutilation and you have to raise awareness,”…
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To mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, around 150 people took part in a conference in Geneva on Wednesday looking at ways of putting an end to the practice. Some 130 million women are affected by genital mutilation, mostly in Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia, but also in immigrant…
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High on the agenda are tighter legal measures against forced marriages and genital mutilation of women, as well as a ban on wearing the burka in public and special dispensation from swimming lessons for Muslim pupils. “Voters gave a strong signal to stop the claim to power by political Islam in Switzerland at the expense…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.