The Last Sections of Article 38 of the Istanbul Convention
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/06/29
Article 38 – Female genital mutilation
Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the following
intentional conducts are criminalised:
a excising, infibulating or performing any other mutilation to the whole or any part of a
woman’s labia majora, labia minora or clitoris;
b coercing or procuring a woman to undergo any of the acts listed in point a;
c inciting, coercing or procuring a girl to undergo any of the acts listed in point a
The Istanbul Convention is an important document not only for the equality of the sexes, but also for the protection of women from culture, community, society, and fundamentalist religion opposed to bodily autonomy.
In the convention, some stark statements arise including ones related to the practices of female genital mutilation, of which tens of millions of women around the world are subject to and suffer from at the hands of religious and cultural practices entwined together. In Canada and elsewhere, we do not have to worry too much about unconsented to the mutilation of girls’ bodies. It can happen.
However, the cases do not emerge at consistent rates. The questions about the use and abuse of women’s bodies for cultural and religious practices are many and broad-ranging. The main ones here are about Article 38(b) and Article 38(c) of the Istanbul Convention. It deals with the coercion and procurement of women to get excision, infibulation, or other genital mutilation relevant to women’s bodies.
It does not matter if this is encouraged by religion culture, family or community. No one has the right to go out and mutilate a women’s body, but, again, tens of millions of girls and women around the world have undergone these procedures. Section (b) relates to (c) on that point but also to leads naturally into section (c).
As stated clearly in the documentation, the incitement and coercion, and procurement of a girl is also prohibited. That is, whether a woman or a girl, no one holds the right to deny a bodily autonomy to this person. That makes the religio-cultural context and familial and community pressure moot. If people, especially girls and young women, are pressured by community, the community and the family is violating the fundamental basis of Article 38 of the Istanbul Convention.
—
One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on. Based on the personal analysis in conjunction with a colleague (Sarah Mills) in other publications, I find the following documents with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3 and Article 13.
- The Istanbul Convention and Article 39.
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1993).
- Beijing Declaration(1995).
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 