The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA) has asked all parties to formulate an action plan for preventing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

The ministry has urged other ministries, institutions, and religious figures to synergize in order to prevent female genital mutilation through the formation of female genital mutilation and cutting prevention roadmap and action plan 2020–2030.

“The formation of roadmap and action plan is a follow-up of our plans and efforts since 2003,” Prijadi Santoso, an official from the ministry, said in a press statement released on Tuesday.

According to Santoso, the medical danger of female genital mutilation/cutting is indisputable. However, a regulation that forbids and penalizes this activity does not yet exist, he said.

“In Indonesia, the demand for FGM/C remains high. There are even service providers that openly offer FGM/C services,” he informed.

This situation is what is driving the urgency behind the formation of a roadmap and action for preventing female genital mutilation/cutting, he explained.

The assistant deputy for professional institution and business world participation at the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Eko Novi Ariyanti, concurred.

She said that the roadmap and action plan are a form of the ministry’s effort to encourage the government to integrate the prevention of FGM/C to raise the awareness of the people, government officials, and health workers.

Earlier, the ministry had urged ulemas of Islamic boarding schools to build commitment toward preventing female genital mutilation/cutting, she noted.

“The practice of FGM/C is a form of gender-based violence that is often conducted because it has become a doctrine or culture passed down from generation to generation in society,” Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga said.

Source: Antara News