On March 4, 2025, Sierra Erdem (JD 2025), a student of the International Human Rights Center, and Megan Mars (JD 2023), Megan Mars (JD 2023), an alumna of LLS and fellow at Science for Democracy, travelled to Geneva to present to the U.N. Human Rights Committee a parallel report on Burkina Faso. The report was jointly prepared by the IHRC and Science for Democracy, a Brussels-based NGO focusing on the promotion of the right to benefit from progress in science and technology.
The report focused on the continuing practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) occurring in the country and more widely in Western Africa, as a result of Burkina Faso’s refusal to engage in regional cooperation and criminalize FGM that is performed on Burkinabé girls outside of Burkina Faso’s borders. These issues come under the purview of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Articles 2, 3, 6.1, 7, and 24.1. Her presentation highlighted the traditional, patriarchal attitudes supporting FGM and how families struggling with poverty turn to FGM to secure what they perceive as a better future for themselves and their daughters through marriage. Her presentation recommended criminalizing cross-border FGM and providing comprehensive resources to those displaced by terrorist violence, so they do not fall victim to FGM.
Learn more about the International Human Rights Center.