Feb. 6 declared International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM in Saskatchewan

The government of Saskatchewan has declared Feb.6, 2020, as International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.

A certificate of recognition, dated Feb. 5, 2020, and signed by the minister of justice and attorney general was contained in a press statement from the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.

According to End FGM Canada Network, the country has over 100,000 survivors of female genital mutilation with thousands of girls at risk, with immigrants making up a majority of this number.

“Think about it every ten seconds a girl is mutilated, every ten seconds! There are two million survivors in the world,” said Giselle Portenier, a founding member of End FGM Canada based in Ottawa.

Portenier had earlier applied for a proclamation of the day by the City of Regina, but her request was rejected.

She describes the rejection as a disappointment and unfair to the survivors in Regina.

“We’ll be delighted if the immigrant community affected in Regina will come out and join the FGM Canada Network to push the government to provide better services for the survivors and most importantly to protect the human rights of girls who may actually be at risk,” Portenier said.

“The proclamation request from End FGM Canada Network was rejected due to the lack of a local presence of the network in Regina to support the request,” said Regina’s City clerk, Jim Nicol, in response.

In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly designated Feb. 6 as International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation to amplify and direct the efforts on the elimination of this practice.

The day calls for support from governments and people towards full eradication of the practice by 2030.