MDP students attended Washington, D.C. summit to end violence against girls

GBV Summit

On December 2nd, 2016, two MDP students attended the End Violence Against Girls Summit on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) in Washington, D.C., held at the United States Institute of Peace. Sidra Khalid (’17) and Sarah Durry (’17) represented Emory MDP at the all-day event, which featured a groundbreaking gathering of leaders concerned about gender-based violence from all over the world.

The summit featured an impressive spread of speakers, including Senator Harry Reid, Congressman Joe Crowley, Cathy Russell (Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, U.S. State Department) and Lakshmi Puri (Deputy Executive Director of UN Women). In addition, the event included seven panels of varying demographics (including educators, religious and community leaders, and medical service providers, among other groups), allowing for diverse voices to add to the conversation.

GBV Summit

“The summit made me realize how the development sector needs to make gender inequality an even higher priority than it is now,” Sidra reflected. Both students noted that education is a key factor in ending FGM/C. For example, Sarah noted that she “assumed that FGM/C mainly took place in parts of Africa and the Middle East, [but] it’s really practiced all over the world, including Russia, Colombia, and even the United States.” In fact, she learned that the CDC conducted a study suggesting that more than 500,000 girls in the United States have experienced or are at risk of experiencing FGM/C, sometimes within U.S. borders and other times when they travel to their country of origin.

Sarah noted that although civic and social organizations are key players in “pushing the agenda” to prioritize this issue, large gaps still exist in terms of funding grassroots organizations working to prevent FGM/C. More research is also needed in the medical field to better treat survivors. Sarah and Sidra agreed that next steps in this sector will involve the inclusion of men, increased participation of religions leaders, keeping donors and stakeholders accountable, and tackling the issue “as a violation of human rights and as violence against women and girls” specifically, according to Sidra.

Safe Hands for Girls and Equality Now and sponsored in part by the Human Dignity Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund.


Top Photo: Senator Harry Reid presents at the summit
Bottom Photo: Sarah Durry and Sidra Khalid at the summit on December 2nd, 2016.