The issues and practices detailed in this submission highlight the State’s failure to fulfill its duty to protect women and girls from FGM/C (article 2(c) and (e)); and that the decisions and faults of the authorities and their agents constitute demonstrable direct and indirect discrimination against women (article 2(d)).
We argue that the root causes of the failures of the State are due to the failure to comply with the obligation to transform gender hierarchies and stereotyped attitudes towards women, which violate Articles 2(f) and 5(a) of the Convention, since the State has an obligation to combat FGM/C, as outlined in General Recommendations 14, 19 and 31 of the CEDAW Committee.
Submitted by: Equality Now and End FGC Singapore (EFS).