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La Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation(Campagna contro la Mutilazione Genitale Femminile) consiste in una serie di campagne diffuse a livello globale con lo scopo di combattere il fenomeno della mutilazione genitale femminile (MGF). Si tratta della più antica organizzazione internazionale che si focalizza sulla lotta alla mutilazione genitale femminile. Essa mira a legare tra loro vari gruppi di attivisti presenti nei Paesi dove ancora si pratica la mutilazione genitale sulle donne per propagare informazioni, comunicazioni e strategie organizzative. Lo scopo è quello di incoraggiare questi gruppi a porre fine alla mutilazione genitale femminile, ad assicurarsi che tale pratica si estingua del tutto nei nei Paesi che la praticano e a fornire protezione a donne e bambine costrette a lasciare il proprio Paese per paura di subire la mutilazione. Come partecipante del United Nations Global Compact, la Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation si impegna a combattere la MGF unendo i gruppi di attivisti locali e incoraggiando gli enti dei Peasi interessati ad aiutare tali gruppi attraverso iniziative mirate alla valorizzazione del ruolo della donna.

Storia
Negli anni Sessanta i medici dei Paesi che praticavano la MGF avevano iniziato a far sentire la propria voce, esprimendo la loro contrarietà nei confronti di tale pratica e la loro preoccupazione per problemi sanitari. Fino al 1997 sono state portate avanti delle ricerche ufficiali da parte del Organizzazione mondiale della sanità (WHO) sulle conseguenze della MGF che viene praticata principalmente in Africa. Quando il WHO scoprì che più di 30 milioni di donne in Nigeria avevano subito una qualche forma di mutilazione genitale, , a partire dal 1998 la campaign against Female Genital Mutilation venne creata in Nigeria, lo stato più popoloso dell'Africa con lo scopo di dare una voce e un volto a tutti coloro che lottavano contro la mutilazione genitale femminile. Subito dopo, nel 1999, la campagna venne riconosciuta come uno dei movimenti più influenti e forti del millennio. . e nello stesso anno Stella Obasanjo, moglie del primo ministro nigeriano, divenne la portavoce della campagna e le diede visibilità a livello internazionale. Molti gruppi iniziarono ad attivarsi in Chad, Sudan e nella Repubblica Centrafricana, che rese questa campagna la prima organizzazione internazionale dedicata esclusivamente alla lotta contro le mutilazioni genitali femminili. Il 6 febbraio 2003 la signora Obasanjo istituì la giornata internazionale contro le mutilazioni genitali femminili e lanciò un appello per una maggiore cooperazione all'interno degli stati africani nella lotta contro le mutilazioni genitali. Da quel momento le Nazioni Unite hanno riconosciuto il 6 febbraio come giorno

On February 6, 2003, Mrs. Obasanjo declared February 6, the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation and called for stronger collaboration in African countries on the campaign against female genital mutilation. Since then, the UN has recognized February 6 as an awareness day marked every year by the international Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation and anti-FGM campaigns around the world.

Campaign strategy
Founded by African women physicians, the campaign focuses on health education instead of activism. Dr. Bintu Adamu, a CAGeM campaign manager, noted that the slow rate of eradication is due to the western activism approach to eradication which is culturally insensitive and is often unwelcome by practicing communities. Dr. Adamu stated that CAGeM's success in eradication is due to its understanding of African cultures and how Africans respond to western ideals of human rights. Men are specially targeted for educational campaigns since a lot of reasons for continuing the practice is based on ideals encouraged by men such as marriageability, faithfulness, and the desire for virgin brides. In recognition of the fact that the pressure to circumcise is encouraged by the professional practitioners who depend on the practice for a living, CAGeM implements alternate career training programs to prevent economic sustainability of the practice. Girls who escape mutilation are also housed in safe houses, given room and board, as well as free primary and secondary education. Campaigns have been established in twenty countries and has resulted in eradication in thousands of communities. To eradicate female genital mutilation in the United States, the campaign established an office in New York and is currently the only organization exclusively working on eradication of female genital mutilation in the United States. Although the practice became a federal crime in 1997 in the United States, it is still practiced by immigrant communities. CAGeM has launched a project to create educational programs against female genital mutilation in all 50 states.

Current Status
Since the campaign began, many communities have abandoned the practice. Several FGM practicing communities continue to campaign against female genital mutilation. In addition to African countries, the campaign has expanded to Europe and America where immigrant communities still practice FGM. On February 6, 2012, the international campaign against female genital mutilation which adopted the acronym "CAGeM" in 2011, hosted the International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation awareness event in New York with Amnesty International New York City Women's Human Rights Action Team. The event highlighted the progress of the global campaign and Anti-FGM laws in the United States including the status of the Girls Protection Act of 2011 which protects girls from being removed from the United States to be genitally mutilated. The bill was introduced on June 16, 2011 and referred to the subcommittee on crime, terrorism, and homeland security on August 25, 2011, but was not passed. However, the Transport for Female Genital Mutilation Act was passed in January 2013 and prohibits knowingly transporting a girl out of the U.S. for the purpose of undergoing FGM. The campaign has also expanded to providing free treatment, including obstetric fistula and clitoral reconstructive surgery to victims of female genital mutilation especially in Africa were local women cannot afford the procedure. Miriam Kone from Mali who was genitally mutilated as a child and was a speaker at Their Voice: A National conference on eradication of female genital mutilation, hosted by CAGeM at the New York Academy of Medicine, is one of the survivors awaiting clitoral reconstructive surgery. Kone stated “I have been thinking about it for nine years and I think it is enough time for me. I can’t wait to try it and feel like a real woman again, because other women who have been through the surgery talk about experiencing the joy of orgasm for the first time." The procedure, developed by French surgeon Pierre Foldès has been clinically proven to allow women who have undergone female genital mutilation with Clitoridectomy, to achieve clitoral orgasms and reduce pain.

Although the campaign has had success with establishing anti-FGM laws in several countries, enforcement continues to be a major challenge of the campaign. A recent walk at Riverside Park organized by CAGeM, the first on female genital mutilation in the United States, sought to bring attention to the practice in New York by immigrant communities and also raise awareness on the critical situation in Egypt.

Films
Heredia, Paula. Africa Rising: The Grassroots Movement to end Female Genital Mutilation. 2009.

Category:International nongovernmental organizations Category:Women's rights organizations Category:Female genital mutilation Category:Women's rights in Africa Category:Non-governmental organizations of Africa Category:International organizations based in Africa Category:International human rights organizations Category:Health campaigns