Public Speaking

The sixty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place from 6 to 17 March 2023. Due to my teaching obligations at the University of Amsterdam, I was not able to travel to New York this year. Instead, I attended various sessions online. I also had the honour to speak at a parallel event organized by Dr. Ugochi Ohajuruka, Executive Director Health Aid for All Initiative (HAFAI) on the ‘Implications of Covid-19 pandemic on girl child education, menstrual health and anti-FGM advocacy‘.

The 8th of March 2022, the Symposium Committee of Students Tilburg Amnesty International (STAI) organized an event about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) at Tilburg University. We invited two guest speakers for this special occasion: Dr. Annemarie Middelburg and Istahil Abdulahi.

Amnesty International Student group Amsterdam (AISA) invited me to give a lecture about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting & the Covid-19 pandemic, together with my friend, activist and FGM-survivor, Istahil Abdulahi.

The 6th of February marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. In the Netherlands, Platform 6/2 organized an online event that was livestreamed from Rotterdam. I contributed to this event with a workshop about the impact of Covid-19 on the lives of young women and girls.

Clitoral reconstructive surgery after Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting is not (yet) available in the United Kingdom. However, in countries like France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland the surgery is available and covered by health insurance. The UK FGM Specialist Network invited me to present current evidence about the effectiveness of the surgery.

Upon invitation of the Dutch national central body for the reporting of and advise on domestic violence and child abuse, I gave a workshop about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, with a specific focus on the criminalization of the practice in the Netherlands.

I was invited by Pharos, the Dutch Centre of Expertise on Health Disparities to provide a training for (health) professionals on the prevention of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). I also spoke about the impact of Covid-19. Over 100 professionals with a wide variety of backgrounds (youth health care professionals, child protection officers, pediatricians, pediatric nurses, doctors and midwifes) participated.

The 14th of July 2020, we organized a webinar entitled ‘Impact of Covid-19 on ending FGM/C in West Africa‘. It was the fifth webinar of a webinar series about the impact of Covid-19 on our efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C).

Following the success of the first webinar, we organized a follow-up webinar about Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders (FGMPOs). I moderated the panel discussion with three well-known speakers: Dr. Charlotte Proudman, Gillian Squires and Leethen Bartholomew.

The 18th of June 2020, we organized a webinar entitled ‘Impact of Covid-19 on ending FGM/C – focus on the youth‘. It was the third webinar of a webinar series about the impact of Covid-19 on our efforts to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C).