Working Paper 1.

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LUMS ACTION PLAN

ECOSOC (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment for Women)

Topic Area A: Reproductive Rights for Women and Female Genital Mutilation
Signatories: Afghanistan, Turkey, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, UAE, Qatar, Germany, Israel,
United Kingdom, USA, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Cambodia, India, Azherbaijan
1) Declares the LUMS ACTION PLAN that regulates and empowers women and their sexual health and
reproductive rights in the status quo incorporating a culturally-nuanced approach;
2) Notes the reasons for female genital mutilation being prevalent and its continued existence
extended but not limited to:
a) Social factors and the societal structure that encourages such processes,
i) Female genital mutilation is wrongly considers to be a process that maintains purity and
amplifies standards of female beauty,
ii) Its long standing prevalence has embedded it in the society and turned it into a cultural
norm,
iii) It has become an act to escape marginalization in the society due to its long standing
existence in the global forefront,
b) The misplaced notion that it is a religious practice because some religious scholars wrongly
encourage it,
c) The economic reasons that hinders states from making substantive progress;
3) Declares that the right of abortion is not a privilege but a right entitled to women and the
immediate stakeholders pertaining to certain conditions which take the state’s policies into
consideration as a prerequisite:
a) The state defined prerequisites for abortions will aim at reducing the self-induced phenomenon
altogether by limiting abortions in cases when,
i) The entitlement of the right will only be allocated in cases where the life of the to-be
mother is in danger or if the child birth might be detrimental to physical or mental health1,
ii) The universal time period for a legal abortion must be under four months since conception,
b) Spouses and/or immediate family being the stakeholder parties who alongside the pregnant
woman would hold the authority of abortion
c) Confining abortions only in public hospitals in order to monitor the cases in the status quo;
4) Supports the idea of the creation of “edupitals” which is a three tiered approach to assist the
reintegration of women who have suffered female genital mutilation and a violation of their
reproductive and sexual rights, ensuring a smooth transition process is achieved by:
a) Providing not only the basic sexual education to women but also focusing on one-to-one family
planning programs and vocational trainings for women to encourage their corporate
participation,

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Justification of the medical condition will require the consent from at least three physicians
 b) Emphasizing on the health care services for females suffering from all forms of sexual violence
and diseases,
i) The Human Resource managing these edupitals will be restricted to women that reduces
cultural taboos in areas with gender based segregation,
ii) Increase priority towards mental health facilities and treatment for victims of female genital
mutilations by using cognitive and recreational therapy2,
iii) Ensuring skilled doctors and equipped facilities for efficient diagnosis in cases ranging from
sexual abuses to FGM,
c) Calls states to develop their individual capacity for education of women and healthcare systems
to meet the minimum standards laid down by the all internationally agreed development goals;
5) Recommends the creation of Regional Public Awareness Campaigns through available media
conducted by the United Nations Department of Public Information and funded through public-
private partnerships and non-governmental in order to create awareness among the population
regarding:
a) The need to incorporate both female and male roles in order to promote female empowerment
and realization of reproductive rights of both sexes and others stigmatized by the society,
b) The importance of open communication within the family regarding sexual behavior and STIs,
while acknowledging the importance of parental figures in educating the youth;
6) Calls upon member states and international agencies to add a special focus on midwives in the
African Nations, and to assist them in their reproductive health duties by providing them with:
a) Training programs on how to carry out their procedures in safer ways,
b) Toolkits that help them with carrying out the delivery procedures,
c) Adding modern contraceptive methods to the Essential Medicine List that satisfy primary needs
of the population established by the WHO;
7) Recommends the employment of a “National Action Plan Against Unsafe Abortion” which will be
carried out in the following way:
a) governments must ensure that words such as,” menstrual regulation” and “induced miscarriage”
are not used by health facilities,

b) Each government and state to provide evidence and generate scientifically sound evidence on
unsafe abortion,

c) Mechanisms such as “emergency transfer” to be established to ensure that legal abortion when
carried out using anesthesia, correct diagnosis and correct facilities,

d) Abortion if legally permitted must have written consent from the following stakeholders:

i) A written consent by the mother,

ii) The immediate family and father if present to also submit written consent,

8) Further recommends combating the issue of high maternal mortality and maternal morbidity using
the following:

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Adopting Eye Movement Desensitization and Critical incidence stress debriefing methods
a) Governments to encourage and establish temporary screening clinics in rural areas:

i. These measures will be in the form of drop in and mobile clinics,

ii. Temporary screening clinics to increase research evidence and provide evidence based diagnosis,

b) Ensure accountability of practitioners by:

i) government sponsored minimum training requirements for doctors,

ii) Professional institutions to establish a framework to persecute and reprimand practitioners, who
perform without reaching the minimum training requirement,

9. Expresses its appreciation for supporting groups which can help increase access to treatment to
victims of female genital mutilation by providing resources and knowledge such as but not limited to:
a) Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), some being:
b) Faith based groups,
c) Qualified volunteer groups,
d) Voluntary contribution from capable governments

10) Calls upon governments to use the education system as a tool to reintegrate Women who are
victims of female genital mutilation while ensuring that cultural sentiments are paid heed to:

a) Monitoring that standardized education should be promoted to prevent false narratives and
false notions regarding the process of Female Genital Mutilation spreading

b) Education in schools and colleges based on primary and basic reproductive health must be
carried out alongside the use of ‘edupitals’:

i. This is to be promoted in public schools,

ii. Primary reproductive education promoted through government sponsored student-

teacher collaboration programs,

iii. Maintaining a degree of student teacher confidentiality while using these programs,

iv. “Know your rights” seminars carried out where female educators are employed
specifically for this purpose,

11) Encourages the adoption of the 3A modal for the prevention of FGM in the near future by:

a) Awareness campaigns including the awareness of “cutting season,” through vocational

educational lectures, media advertisement and social media campaigns in collaboration with the
influencing figures such as religious scholars, political leaders and TV stars etc

b) Approach making the team to reach and working partnership with resident communities
internationally including the area under the influence by the immigration of the FGM affected
women in order to minimize,

c) Alert the populous by introducing a 24/7helpline service;

12) Encourages annual conferences between Muslim states to discuss the possibilities of legalizing
abortion in Islam pertaining to specific circumstances:

a) The conferences will be hosted in succession in Turkey and Bahrain inviting the representatives
of states which may include but not limited to Head of States and Muslim Scholars,

13) Remains to be seized.