VZCZCXRO8564
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHRY #0255/01 1271153
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071153Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3656
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CONAKRY 000255 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV EAID GV
SUBJECT: ELIMINATING FGM- NGO ACTIVITIES IN THE FOREST 
REGION 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY.  During a recent visit to the Forest Region, 
Assistant Poloff explored the practice of Female Genital 
Mutilation (FGM), which affects an estimated 96% of the 
female population in Guinea.  Meetings with local 
authorities, citizens, and NGOs working to combat the 
practice of FGM revealed a general consensus about the 
importance of providing practitioners of FGM with an 
alternate means of making a living.  While all of the 
organizations emphasized the continued challenges to 
eliminating the dangerous practice, many commented that the 
social taboo surrounding the topic is in decline.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
CPTAFE REPRESENTATIVES CONFRONT CHALLENGES 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) The Coordinating Body on Traditional Practices 
Affecting Women and Children (CPTAFE) has addressed 
traditional practices that harm the health of women and 
children since 1988.  CPTAFE's efforts include publications, 
radio programs, educational seminars, and organizing 
community events.  Currently, CPTAFE collaborates with 
Guinea's Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Affairs. 
CPTAFE credits itself with successfully lobbying for the 
inclusion of an article in the Guinean constitution that 
upholds the right to physical integrity of the person and 
condemns all forms of inhumane treatment.  (COMMENT.  While 
this constitutional article could be interpreted to include 
FGM, no cases have yet been brought to trial.  FGM is also 
illegal under Article 265 of the Guinean Penal Code, although 
the law is not enforced.  END COMMENT.)  In the Forest 
region, CPTAFE operates in the regional cities of 
Kissidougou, Guekedou, and N'Zerekore.  The organization 
hopes to establish a center in Lola, near the Liberian and 
Ivoirian borders, within the year. 
 
¶3. (U) The CPTAFE representative in Kissidougou explained 
that activities are mostly focused on educational sessions 
for the community and finding alternate means of making a 
living for the women who perform FGM.  When asked about the 
difficulties facing the organization, the representative 
identified a lack of motivation within the general population 
to eliminate the practice.  She also noted that involving men 
and establishing long-term solutions pose the greatest 
challenges.  However, she did comment that there has been 
"progress" in the sense that the subject of FGM is becoming 
less taboo. 
 
¶4. (U) The CPTAFE office in N'Zerekore identified a number of 
problems facing the organization.  According to the 
representative, the center has very little operational 
support and has relocated several times due to expensive rent 
costs.  The representative was frustrated by nurses at the 
local hospitals, who she claimed perform excision, but make 
excuses to avoid CPTAFE's educational sessions.  She noted 
that young women in the region are increasingly educated on 
the risks of FGM, commenting that "the female students 
understand and are now telling their families they do not 
want to be excised." She also pointed to providing 
practitioners of FGM with an alternate means of living as the 
most potentially successful approach to eliminating FGM. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
TOSTAN DIRECTOR WARNS AGAINST SHOCKING LANGUAGE 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶5. (U) TOSTAN is an American NGO based in Senegal that 
implements programs focused on democracy, health, and human 
rights in order to address the problem of FGM.  In Guinea, 
TOSTAN's projects in the Upper, Middle, and Lower Regions are 
funded by USAID.  In the Forest Region, TOSTAN partners with 
UNICEF.  Asst Poloff met with the Country Director prior to 
the Forest visit, who explained that TOSTAN utilizes a 
holistic approach to eliminating FGM and that only two 
training modules speak directly about the practice.  The 
Director noted that the terminology associated with the 
practice is important, cautioning Asst Poloff to use the term 
"excision" rather than FGM.  TOSTAN's ultimate goal is a 
public declaration against excision by a number of villages, 
so the organization "tries not to shock people because elders 
have important decision making role in the villages."  The 
Director maintained that by explaining the right to life and 
to health, people will begin to realize the dangers of 
excision on their own. 
 
¶6. (U) Asst Poloff met with TOSTAN representatives in 
Guekedou.  They explained that their activities, often 
educational sketches and community meetings, focus on 
 
CONAKRY 00000255  002 OF 002 
 
 
democracy, health, and human rights and do not directly 
address FGM.  The representative named improving literacy 
rates and encouraging pregnant women not to give birth in the 
bush as the two largest priorities in the region. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
LOCAL NGOS LOOK FOR LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) In addition to the organizations operating nationally, 
Asst Poloff met with a number of local organizations that 
address FGM.  In Guekedou, the Association of Women for the 
Future of Women (AFAF) works to protect non-excised girls 
from three area villages that have abandoned excision.  AFAF 
also works to inform the surrounding villages that have not 
yet abandoned the practice about its dangers.  In cooperation 
with Plan Guinea, they employ "educators" who establish 
dialogue about the practice of excision with key members of 
local communities.  The educators aim to inform parents as 
well as young girls about the health risks of the practice. 
The representative explained that the organization utilizes 
local midwives as intermediaries with the surrounding 
villagers.  While the representative acknowledged lingering 
taboos, she noted that the topic of excision is now being 
addressed on the local radio. She identified the 
practitioners of FGM, and the general ignorance of the 
population on health issues, as the greatest obstacles to 
ending the practice. 
 
¶8. (U) In the village of Bossou, near the Ivorian border, 
Asst Poloff met with representatives from the Union of 
Volunteers for the Integrated Development of Zantompiezo 
(UVODIZ).  The Embassy's Self-Help Program has funded the 
creation of several vegetable farms, which provide an 
alternate means of making a living to former practitioners of 
FGM.  Nine neighboring villages have established vegetable 
farms as a way of helping the women who previously performed 
excision establish new livelihoods as well as maintain their 
status.  The representative from UVODIZ noted that Bossou is 
the only locality in the region to have abandoned the 
practice for five years running, and attributed the program's 
success to USG financing.  However, he felt that a long-term 
solution must address more than the women excisers.  He 
argued that the Government of Guinea is not taking legal 
action against the practice and that the USG should work to 
pressure Guinean officials more explicitly. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶9. (U) While most of the representatives recognized some 
progress in reducing cultural taboos surrounding FGM, few 
described more concrete results.  In fact, recent statistics 
show little to no decline in the number of women who are 
subjected to FGM in Guinea.  The organizations generally 
expressed support for a holistic, community-based approach to 
eliminating the practice, but many were concerned about 
villages that had abandoned excision reverting to the 
practice if effective long-term solutions were not 
identified.  Last summer, post held an in-reach for local 
staff that took a very direct approach to addressing FGM, 
featuring photographs and a graphic discussion of the types 
of FGM and its health consequences, which was highly 
successful and well-received.  Contrary to some of the NGOs' 
softer approach, the success of the Embassy-sponsored, more 
direct discussion suggests that more specific information may 
be welcomed by select audiences.  Various Embassy discussions 
with Guineans on FGM indicate that many people really do not 
understand what FGM is, let alone its social and health 
implications. 
RASPOLIC