The Global Youth Consortium has been driving advocacy in various parts of Nigeria and globally to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 2030.
A team led by Nigeria Country Representative, Mr Augustine Onwe and the Consortium’s Global Executive Secretary Dr. Costly Aderibigbe, recently paid an advocacy visit to the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) in Abuja, to discuss ways in which the council can support the fight against FGM in the country.
Ms. Doris Ikechukwu, deputy secretary resource mobilisation and partnership, and Zack Onwe also attended the meeting as members of the GYC Nigerian team.
Alh. Faruk Umar Abubakar, the council’s registrar gave the team an assurance that they would ensure that no member of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria engages in the act because it is against their ethics, but if any is found they would be brought before the law.
Additionally, he urged the GYC Nigeria to file a report in any instance where a nurse or midwife is found to be performing female genital mutilation.
A similar advocacy roundtable on eliminating the medicalization of FGM was also held by the GYC and Dr. Tajudeen A. B. Sanusi, the registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) at its headquarter in Abuja.
The registrar responded to the advocacy request by saying that MCDN is committed to the fight against FGM and has included FGM as a professional misconduct in their new ethical code of conduct.
He advised reporting any medical doctor who was discovered engaging in FGM to the council’s investigative panel.
The registrar tasked GYC members with stepping up their efforts in rural areas, particularly in designated hotspots, offer guidelines for reporting cases of misconduct to the panel.
As part of the advocacy requests put out by the team, he vowed to make it possible for GYC members to speak with new medical doctors during the Induction ceremonies.
The Global Youth Consortium (GYC) against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a youth movement with representation in more than 55 countries and a membership of over 1200 young people with the sole vision of achieving a world free of female genital mutilation by 2030.
The consortium structure works closely with UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Program on the Elimination of FGM to ensure that young people are meaningfully engaged in advocacy against FGM.
Through advocacy, partnership and lobbying the consortium is disrupting social norms and creating safe spaces for women and girls.
GYC was formed following the Dakar declaration, where young people from across the globe met in Senegal between 3rd and 5th of November 2021 and agreed to be the largest global youth movement working to end Female Genital Mutilation.
The consortium was launched officially on the 8th of February at a high-level event supported by UNFPA Geneva, New York and WACARO offices, where the joint program donors (Italy, Ireland, Canada, USA, European Union, Sweden, Norway, Austria) directly engaged in conversations with young people during a panel discussion.
