Female genital mutilation is a reality in 30 countries of the African and Asian continents. There are also news of female genital mutilation in South America and recently in Russia, in the Republic of Dagestan. It is a practice that affects around 200 million women and girls worldwide, according to the latest data published by UNICEF in 2016 where countries such as Indonesia, Yemen and Iraq were included for the first time. Migratory movements have made this a phenomenon of global concern, with a notable growth in Europe.

It’s crucial to enable professionals in strategic areas, whose direct contact with victims and potential victims of female genital mutilation is greater, with the necessary knowledge about this practice, its cultural roots and meanings, and its consequences, as well as the most efficient ways of preventing and fighting its proliferation. The Transnational Research Observatory Applied to New Strategies for the Prevention of FGMC has demonstrated that professionals training and contact with the families has been essential in prevention.

The "Multisectoral Academic Programme to Prevent and Combat Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)" is a research project involving several universities, including ISCTE-IUL through CEI-IUL, in partnership with the University Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid, the Vrij Universiteit of Brussels, the Roma Tre University in Rome with Fondazione Angelo Celli, and the Fundación Wassu, which also includes the NGO Wassu Kafo in Gambia, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

Co-financed by the European Commission, through the ‘Rights, Equality and Citizenship’ programme, this project promotes direct intervention with future professionals in different areas, incorporating this Guide into the curricular units of different courses - medicine, nursing, education, psychology, social work, law, criminology, anthropology, international development cooperation, gender studies and feminism, communication and journalism - at five European universities, partners in the project. During the second semester of the 2016/2017 school year and in the first semester of 2017/2018, the project team will promote this inclusion by providing training adapted specifically to each of these areas, providing the materials developed within the framework of the project. Teachers will also be invited to attend and continue the discussion and teaching on the topic after the project ends.

There will be 4 international seminars in Madrid, Brussels, Lisbon and Rome to promote discussion on the subject and forms of prevention among experts and stakeholders in the area.

ISCTE-IUL will hold the International Seminar "Integrated Institutional Responses to FGM/C" on 28 and 29 September 2017, with the presence of speakers from the African continent, namely Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Guinea Conakry and Mauritania; and also European speakers. This seminar will focus both on human rights instruments and their implementation in combating FGM/C as well as on the prevention strategies employed in these countries and in Portugal, thus seeking to foster dialogue and exchange of experiences: from activism to research; higher education institutions to international organizations and civil society.

For more information: http://mapfgm.eu/