DESCRIPTION
Material

A6 sized document in the form of a “passport” in 4 pages including following information;

• Reminder of the penal ban
• What FGM are
• The consequences of it on the health of girls and women
• International law, and penal law in Belgium
• Persons of contact in case of danger in Belgium and abroad

Reference

Concept

The “STOP FGM passport” reminds people of the ban of FGM and harmful consequences of it on the girl’s health, in order to help preventing and protecting girls from FGM.

This document is meant for travel clinics, centres for vaccines and front line services when they are confronted to FGM.

This document reminds parents that the penal ban of FGM is also valid in the case that it was performed abroad. Sometimes, parents can be under pressure from the family or members of the community even though they are opposed to it. Before the departure, they have to assess the danger of such a trip. They have to do everything they can to avoid any risk of FGM in the country of origin.

OBJECTIVES

The STOP FGM passport aims at raising awareness amongst parents about the danger to which their daughter(s) are confronted during their stay abroad. It aims at warning the entourage and the community in the country of origin of about the consequences of FGM on the girls’ health in the short and in the long term and about the fact that it is forbidden in Belgium.

Parents who are aware of the dangers of FGM but who decide to travel with their daughter(s) can show the STOP FGM passport to the entourage and community during their stay and if they are under pressure to let their daughter(s) undergo tradition.

Thanks to this document, they inform their entourage of the penal punishment if their daughter(s) are circumcised during their stay abroad.

DIRECTIONS FOR USE

The STOP FGM passport is used to raise awareness amongst parents about the danger to which their daughters are confronted during their stay abroad, in such a way that they protect them against potential threats of mutilation by close relations or by a member of the community.

The passport is given to the family before their departure: It reminds of

• The legal ban of FGM in Belgium (article 409 of the Penal Code) even if they have been done abroad, provided that the author of the offence is in Belgium;
• The harmful consequences of FGM on girls’ health in the short and in the long term.

This document has been translated in the languages used by the communities that practice FGM and that are the most present in Belgium.

GOOD TO KNOW

In order to reinforce the pressure on the families that travel with intact girls not to let the be circumcised during the stay, this document has been realized with the collaboration of SPF Justice, SPF Santé and Federal Public Service Justice, FPS Health and FPS Foreign Affairs of which the logos appear on the first page.

The STOP FGM passport has been translated in 10 languages so that anyone from a community practicing FGM can understand the danger of it for girls and the legal proceedings to which they could be confronted when they come back to Belgium. The STOP FGM passport is available in French, Dutch, English, Fula, Swahili, Arab, Somali, Afar, Mossi, Maninka.

This tool has been funded by the Institute for Equality between Women and Men and the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs.

WHERE TO FIND IT ?