Seminar: Empty Promises? Compliance with the human rights framework in relation to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Senegal

The practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), also known as female circumcision, involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. According to UNICEF, an estimated 200 million girls and women have undergone the practice. Over the last decades, discourse in relation to the elimination of FGM/C is positioned within the scope of international and regional human rights law. The practice is considered a form of Violence Against Women (VAW) and a human rights violation. A growing number of States where FGM/C is prevalent have signed and ratified the relevant human rights treaties. Despite the various international and regional (quasi) legal norms addressing the practice of FGM/C, the prevalence rates have remained high in many of the countries where FGM/C occurs. This raises the question to what extent (and why) States comply, or in the case of FGM/C, appear not to comply, with the human rights framework that is designed to eliminate the practice.
In her dissertation, Annemarie Middelburg takes Senegal as a case study. Through legal analysis, literature research and an extensive empirical study she aims to identify the factors that explain compliance and/or non-compliance with the human rights framework in relation to the practice of FGM/C.