VZCZCXRO3345
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0059 0160947
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 160947Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9710
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000059 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF/SE 
USAID FOR DCHA SUDAN TEAM, AFR/SP 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SU
SUBJECT: FORGING A STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE FGM IN SUDAN 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) The National Council for Children's Welfare (NCCW) in Sudan 
held a conference in late December 2007 to announce its strategy for 
eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision. 
UNICEF and PLAN Sudan also attended, as did Dr. Samia Ahmed Mohamed, 
Minister of Social Welfare, and Amira Al-Fadel, Secretary General of 
the National Council for Children's Welfare. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The ambitious goal of the conference was to establish a 
national strategy that would eliminate FGM in the next ten years, or 
"in a generation." Sudanese human rights activists and government 
officials also participated, lending some credibility to the 
proceedings.   However, technical advisor Nahid Jabrallah told 
poloff that the Sudanese government did not provide any financial 
assistance to the project's efforts to end FGM, but did provide 
office space and four local employees. The remainder of the 
project's cost was covered by UNICEF. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Fifteen percent of FGM procedures in Sudan are 
infibulations, the most extreme form. According to the NCCW, 
traditionally between eighty and ninety percent of girls under 18 
years of age have been subjected to FGM. A technical committee was 
formed in early 2007 to develop a strategy aimed at eradicating the 
procedure, with representatives from the ministries of health, 
education, and information as well as NGOs. In late 2007, a bill was 
passed by the National Assembly and signed by the president 
criminalizing the procedure, a major step for Sudan. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The conference recommended several steps: providing 
universal health care for children; media campaigns; building 
capacity of organizations and NGOs working to end the practice; 
creating a database and conducting researches and studies; dealing 
with FGM as a social issue and not solely a women's issue; and 
engaging religious leaders in spreading awareness of the dangers of 
the procedure. The government of Sudan is one of the signatories of 
the 1990 International Convention on the Rights of the Child. 
According to a national survey conducted in 1999, FGM was performed 
on ninety percent of Sudanese girls, but the NCCW says that through 
its work and increased awareness of the dangers of FGM, this number 
was reduced to 69.4% in 2006. These numbers obviously indicate some 
success, but also reveal how difficult it is to break such a 
culturally ingrained, though incredibly harmful, procedure. 
 
FERNANDEZ