WRITTEN QUESTION E-3408/02 by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission. Protection of women in the EU against circumcision.
Date: 2002-11-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Denmark, Islam, child protection, competence of the Member States, position of women, sexual mutilation, women's rights

C 192 E/112

Official Journal of the European Union

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14.8.2003

(2003/C 192 E/108)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3408/02

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(29 November 2002)

Subject: Protection of women in the EU against circumcision

The UN Convention against Torture declares the protection of all persons from torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment to be an inalienable right.

In addition to the obvious reference to systematic torture (cid:1) most often based on the particular conditions
under a political regime (cid:1) the text also allows for a somewhat broader interpretation of other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment. Among opponents of torture, the systematic element is a very important
factor.

Female circumcision is perceived in the West as a systematic form of violation of a child’s or adult’s
integrity and freedom, and it is therefore also illegal in several Member States of the EU. The operation
cannot therefore be carried out by hospital doctors but is performed illegally (cid:1) most often in the country
of origin.

Somali imams in Denmark have recently asserted in the press and on television that the operation is
prescribed by the Koran and have called on parents to circumcise their daughters regardless of the fact that
it is an offence under Danish law and UN conventions to do so. It is a particularly serious problem that
ignorant imams hold sway over even more ignorant individuals. General educational activities have so far
proved to be utterly useless.

How will the Commission contribute to ensure that girls and women from cultures which practise
circumcision receive maximum protection in the EU from an immigrant priesthood’s outrageous advice
and pressure on parents, as well as from their parents’ own ignorance?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(23 January 2003)

Female genital mutilation (FGM), including circumcision, is a profound violation of the human rights of
children and women. Amongst others, the Beijing platform for action and the Convention against all
Forms of Discrimination against Women call for action against this practice.

Furthermore, Articles 1 (Human Dignity), 3 (Right to integrity of the person), 4 (Prohibition of torture and
the Charter of
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) and 21 (Non-discrimination) of
Fundamental Rights reflect certain principles, common to the Member States of the Union, which relate
to this issue.

the
It should be emphasised first
responsibility of the Member States. The present Treaties do not provide the Union with any legal base on
that matter.

this matter, as any matter related to violence, remains of

that

is recognised that specific laws
According to various works funded by the Daphne programme,
prohibiting all or some forms of the practice exist in eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, the
Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland). Other European countries
have only general laws prohibiting serious body injury without making specific reference to FGM.

it

Aside from legislative work, which is outside the scope of action of the Union, the Commission’s Daphne
programme (2000-2003) put FGM as a priority in its annual programme (and call for proposals) for two
consecutive years in 2001 and 2002. This resulted in the funding of ten projects on this specific subject, of
which six are for a two-year duration, which means that these actions will tackle the subject in debts.
These actions represent a European funding of more than EUR 1,6 million.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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It is particularly interesting that the Daphne programme could be used to combat this phenomenon,
because this means that grassroots level organisations can collaborate with each other, but also with the
academic world and the authorities, to tackle this problem on the field and, most of the time, with the
direct involvement of the victims.

Female circumcision will only disappear if people, including women, become convinced that they can give
up the practice without giving up the related aspects of their culture. Multifaceted strategies are needed,
including actions directed at the education of health and social workers. The dissemination of appropriate
information emphasising the dangerous health consequences is another important tool.

(2003/C 192 E/109)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3409/02

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(29 November 2002)

Subject: Seventh amendment to the Cosmetics Directive

The cosmetics industry has warned that the timescales for the introduction of alternative non-animal
testing methods, necessary if the sales ban proposals agreed by the Parliament and the Council are to be
avoided, cannot be achieved unless there is a significant reduction in the time taken by current validation
procedures.

What steps does the Commission intend to take to try and ensure an end to avoidable delays and thereby
secure a major reduction in the time taken to gain approval for alternative, non-animal testing methods?

Answer given by Mr Busquin on behalf of the Commission

(21 January 2003)

Validation is a crucial stage in the evolution of any alternative test from its development to its routine
application, since validation consists of the independent assessment of the relevance and reliability of the
test, and therefore forms the scientific basis on which regulators can decide to incorporate the alternative
test into regulations or test guidelines. A number of successfully validated alternative tests have already
been accepted by regulatory authorities at national and international levels, and incorporated into various
regulations and test guidelines.

The Commission has taken the following steps to speed up the overall validation and approval process:

(cid:1) introduction of a prevalidation study, which is a small-scale inter-laboratory study, carried out to
ensure that the protocol of a test method is sufficiently optimised and standardised for inclusion in a
formal validation study, has speeded up the validation process by identifying the problems at an
earlier stage, and therefore enabling to solve them more easily;

(cid:1) establishment of catch-up validation studies in which the structural and performance criteria of a
method are compared with those of a similar method, which has already undergone formal validation
and has been accepted as scientifically valid. This procedure has also permitted to validate methods in
a much faster way;

(cid:1) the timescale from prevalidation to regulatory acceptance is usually six years, whereby prevalidation

and validation of a method usually takes three years.