Inter-Africa Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC)
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Headquarters:
The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC)
C/o ECA P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel/Fax +251 115 51 57 93
Email: iac-htps@uneca.org
Website: http://www.iac-ciaf.com
International Liaison Office:
145 Rue de Lausanne
CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 731 24 20
+41 22 732 08 21
Fax +41 22 738 18 23
E-mail: cominter@iprolink.ch
Mrs. Berhane Ras-work, Executive Director
Description
The Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC) is a non-governmental, non-profit International Organization set up in 1984 in Dakar, Senegal. The purpose of IAC is to promote the basic human rights of women and children by campaigning against FGM and other harmful traditional practices while promoting beneficial practices. The guiding principle of Inter-African Committee is the harnessing of education to bring about a positive change of attitude. Building the capacity of affected communities is a long-standing strategy of the IAC.
The IAC is a membership organization with National Committees in 28 African countries and 15 Group Sections or Affiliates in Europe, Canada, USA, Japan and New Zealand. IAC enjoys Consultative Status with the UN/ECOSOC, an Observer Status with the African Union (AU) and an Official Status with the World Health Organization (WHO). It also has collaborative Status with some UN Agencies. IAC is a member of NGO network of Agence Intergovernmentale de la Francophonie. The IAC’s headquarters is located at the ECA premises in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while an International Liaison Office is maintained in Geneva, Switzerland for lobbying and fund-raising.
Track Record
IAC programs have taken several forms, taking into consideration the varying cultural contexts with the activities tailored to maximize impact on attitudinal change.
Programs for youth: Youth are an important target group both as potential or actual victims as well as future parents. The IAC sensitizes the youth using different entry points such as theaters, sports, peer education, school, radio and by organizing Regional Youth Fora and special training for youth. Since the first Youth Forum in 2000, the IAC has carried out 72 Youth projects, reaching over 250,000 young people with information on FGM and other harmful traditional practices.
Training and Information Campaign (TIC): The campaigns are targeted at specific groups namely women, men, community leaders, religious leaders, traditional birth attendants, health personnel and media. The project aims at changing the attitudes of these target groups for them to become agents of change. Since 2002, 49 TIC projects have been implemented and training centers for the public have been set up in 12 countries.
Alternative Employment Opportunities for ex-excisers (AEO): This program is particularly successful as it focuses on ex-practitioners of FGM who, are offered training on alternative income generating activities. IAC has so far implemented 42 AEO projects from 2000-2006.
Advocacy and lobbying: The IAC and its partners continue to lobby policy makers on the issue of violence against women. The IAC were instrumental in drafting of the Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1997 with the AU, and the essential contents of this proposed document are at present reflected in the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, also known as the Maputo Protocol. The IAC is also part of the African coalition group, Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), which campaigns for the ratification and domestication of the Maputo Protocol.
The IAC has been successful in building a groundswell of opposition, particularly among young people, to the continuation of harmful practices. The declared conversion by excisers who practiced female circumcision is a strong testimony to the fact that change of attitude is possible even amongst the guardians of the practice provided information is transmitted in the right way. The Bundo and the Sowies in Sierra Leone will not continue to wield their power on the secrecy of the ritual of circumcision if some of their members come out in public and denounce the practice as a result of sensitization.
Breaking of taboos has also been possible despite the fact that the IAC and its members work under extremely difficult circumstances. The IAC has been successful because it has employed ground-breaking strategies such as inviting religious leaders to clarify the misconception of religion regarding the practice of FGM, which resulted in an open declaration by the leaders against FGM.
In 2003, the IAC organized an International Conference on Zero Tolerance to FGM with the objective of building and strengthening partnership with stakeholders, governments, inter-governmental organizations, UN agencies and NGOs. The main outcomes of the Conference included proclamation of 6 February as the International Day on “Zero Tolerance to FGM”; adoption of the Common Agenda for Action for the elimination of FGM, ensuring the involvement of different bodies; and the launch of an appeal to Governments to mobilize resources and efforts to eradicate FGM and others health threatening practices . For its accomplishments, the IAC received the UN Population Award in 1995.
The IAC also publishes a bi-annual newsletter in English and French that has wide circulation amongst partners, organizations, corporate and individual members in Africa, Europe, Americas, Asia and New Zealand. Four thousand c0pies were produced in 2006.
Challenges
Given that to date, only 9 out of the 28 countries with FGM prevalence have signed and ratified the Maputo Protocol, and only 16 countries have national legislation against FGM, many of which are incomplete, the IAC has a huge task ahead of it. This includes sensitizing and training legislators on the importance of the ratification of the Maputo Protocol, as well as on the contents of national laws in order to ensure that FGM and other harmful practices are completely eradicated from their countries.
The Committee’s funders include Danida, The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), FINNIDA, FOKUS/NORAD, the Haurralde Foundation, KVINNEFRONTEN, NOSOTRAS, The African Union (AU), The Government of The Netherlands, The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Ethiopia, UK FORWARD, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, WHO, and the World Bank. However, financial and human resources shortages have also prevented the implementation of planned activities including operational research, symposiums for legislators, workshops for the media and religious leaders.
Opportunities
Due to the complexity and multifarious dimensions of FGM, the practice requires a multi-pronged approach to accelerate its elimination. Furthermore, a sustainable approach necessarily implies that the way forward to ending FGM must evolve from the communities themselves. A collaborative effort of all key players is therefore needed.
