Mr President, Commissioner, we are dealing with an own-initiative report by the Committee on Women’s Rights which examines a serious problem, the genital mutilation of a great number of women and girls. This ancient practice violates the fundamental rights of the women and girls who fall victim to it and therefore constitutes an attack on the fundamental human rights recognised in the Treaties and in the Declarations of the United Nations. The report proposes the extension of protection and prevention in all the countries where it is practised and also in the European Union, where we know it is still practised within immigrant communities, or by means of a visit to the country of origin where the genital mutilation is carried out, since this practice is well-established within the customs of many people in Africa and some in Asia. Only prevention by means of information campaigns and clear explanation of the irreversible consequences of this practice will help to eradicate it. These campaigns must be carried out by NGOs, but with the firm commitment of governments and the decisive support of leaders, religious leaders in particular; education campaigns in schools, directed at boys and girls, such as those being carried out with considerable success in Burkina Faso, as Mrs Campaore has told us today. The prosecution of genital mutilation as a crime, both in the country where it is practised and when it is carried out in another country, that is, the extraterritoriality of the crime, will effectively help to eradicate it. In serious cases, some countries envisage the right to asylum, as contemplated in the directive under the heading of the right to asylum for reasons of sexual discrimination. We believe that to include here, in a general way, the right to asylum for alleged victims, that is to say, for millions of girls and teenagers, is inappropriate. We cannot open doors we are then unable to close, and we in the European Union cannot receive all the alleged victims who want to leave their country for this reason. The reality is that we cannot do it even if we would like to. It is on this issue that the Group of the European Peoples’ Party differs with this report, which may mean, in the event that it is approved, that we will abstain in the final vote. This is regrettable, because the report has many positive elements, particularly the need for the commitment to include the fight against genital mutilations in all cooperation programmes and to provide them with adequate financial aid, and the demand that the governments of the states where they are practiced commit themselves effectively to their eradication. We in the Group of the European Peoples’ Party unreservedly condemn genital mutilation and we defend the full physical rights of all women, their full sexual rights and their right to decide on their future even though that decision may be at odds with their people’s traditional past. We defend the rights of women as human beings, fully safeguarding their lives where ever they may be, and we are committed to continuing the work to eradicate this horrendous practice regardless of what may happen in relation to this report.

Political group: PPE-DE