Liberian Testimony Tour of Ireland to end FGM

February 28, 2018

Co-author: Audrey Williams

ActionAid partners from Liberia visited Dublin and Cork, Ireland from the 5^th– 12^thof February 2018 to raise awareness about Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting (FGM/C) and share their expertise to end this harmful cultural practice.

The Testimony Tour is part of a two year project by ActionAid Ireland to end FGM/C in Ireland. The Against FGM through Empowerment & Rejection (AFTER) project is funded by the Rights, Equality & Citizenship Programme of the European Union to work with migrant women and girls from FGM/C practicing countries.

About the speakers from Liberia

Elizabeth Dato Gbah, Head of Programmes and Policy at ActionAid International Liberia, is an advocate for women’s rights and empowering women and girls to challenge and reject violence. Elizabeth facilitated the process that led to the formation of the only HIV-positive women’s network in Liberia. She also led the “Safe Cites for Women Campaign” to address sexual harassment in universities and higher education institutions.

Marian Deah, Executive Officer of Liberian NGO, Women Solidarity Incorporated, who are a partner of ActionAid Liberia. Marian works to raise awareness on human rights violations, abuses and health complications arising from the practice of FGM/C.

William Jallah is the Director at the Bureau of Customs & Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Liberia. He has been a leader in explaining and enforcing the Liberian Ministry of Internal Affairs policies aimed at suspending the practice of FGM.

Testimony Tour events

Minister Stanton AFTER graduation — William Jallah, Siobhan McGee, Minister of State David Stanton, Marian Deah, Elizabeth Dato Gbah (l-r)

The Liberian delegation arrived in Ireland ahead of the United Nations International Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Mutilation.

They had a busy week packed full of events to raise awareness of this important issue including:

Media interviews with Sheila Wayman of The Irish Times, Orla Ryan of The Journal.ie, RTE Six One News, and more national and local media
Talks to migrant groups in Direct Provision Centres in Dublin and Cork
Public Q&A at the Girls for Earth documentary screening in Dublin
Met with students and staff in University College Cork
Participated in a joint Press Conference and Video Presentation event in Dublin
Empowerment Path Graduation Ceremony in Cork, attended by the Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton T.D.

Presentation of recommendations to end FGM in Ireland

ActionAid Ireland held a Press Conference on 6^th February, 2018 in the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, to present the recommendations from the AFTER project to end FGM/C across Europe. Short videos produced by Respect For Change as part of the AFTER Project were also shown to policy makers, TDs, and media in attendance.

The recommendations for the Irish government were presented by AFTER Project Coordinator, Dr. Caroline Munyi. Deputy Leader of the Green Party and Dublin Rathdown T.D., Catherine Martin, Chair of the Oireachtas Women’s Caucus, also spoke at the event:

“There is always more that can be done, and that is where the politicians must step up and do what we can to fight this and shine a light on this issue. While we have made Female Genital Mutilation illegal, we still have to develop a comprehensive law on this matter, one, which does not simply focus on the prosecution element, but also works on prevention and protection measures. We must work to ensure there is funding and long-term supports when it comes to raising awareness on FGM and empowering communities to tackle it.”

Other members of the Oireachtas Eireann Women’s Caucus were also in attendance, including Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy T.D., Senator Ivana Bacik, and Maureen O’Sullivan T.D.

Graduation Ceremony of the AFTER project

Minister of State David Stanton commends AFTER project graduates

On 9 February, a special ceremony was held to mark the culmination of the AFTER project in Cork. During 2017, we delivered workshops called ‘Empowerment Paths‘, to almost 100 women, girls and men in three Direct Provision Centres in Cork city.

Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration, David Stanton T.D., who spoke at the event commended the participants and ActionAid’s pioneering work:

“It’s great to see the fantastic work being done by ActionAid to change attitudes towards this harmful cultural practice, and I commend the women who are now empowered to reject it. I’m delighted that knowledge and successful approaches drawn from projects overseas, and funded by Irish Aid, proved critical in this project, and will make a huge difference to the lives of at least 100 women and girls here in Ireland.”

Some of the graduates gave powerful statements about how the project had empowered them and they now have the tools and confidence to reject FGM/C. The ceremony was attended by civil society representatives and local Cork City Councillor, Mick Finn.

What can Ireland do to stop FGM?

Whilst it was encouraging to see the positive results there is a clear need to coordinate FGM/C prevention and survivor support services, and see them integrated as part of general public services across the country.

Based on the findings from the AFTER project, we recommend the Irish government:

effectively transpose European directives;
ensure a comprehensive law on FGM/C that deals with prosecution, prevention and protection measures;
allocate a clear and sufficient budget for the implementation of the National Action Plan including specialised services, resources and trained professionals, and;
implement government campaigns to raise awareness of the issue at national level.

These changes are necessary to see that women and girls from affected migrant communities in Ireland are fully protected, supported, and empowered to reject FGM/C in their families and communities.

Protestors at COP 28 in Dubai. Photo: Konrad Skotnicki.

Belfast Climate Change March, 2019. Photo: Trócaire.

The Profit Driving the Crisis

Despite their overwhelming contribution to global emissions, fossil fuel companies continue to attract significant financial backing—driven by their enduring profitability. This is starkly illustrated by the case of ExxonMobil, the top fossil fuel investment held by asset managers based in Ireland. In 2023, ExxonMobil reported €33.63 billion ($36 billion) in profit. That is almost twice the GDP of Botswana (€18.1 billion) and nearly three times Namibia’s GDP (€11.5 billion).

Ireland plays a hugely disproportionate role in facilitating investments into fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. In 2023, the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland generated an estimated 72.5 million tons of CO2e. This is more than the CO2e emissions for the entire country of Ireland—and more than ten times that generated by Sierra Leone.

The Global Human Impact

The climate crisis is here, now, and it is causing disproportionate harm in the Global South. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and increasingly severe cyclones are displacing coastal communities, with projections indicating that 17% of the entire country could be underwater by 2050. The legally binding Paris Agreement on climate change explicitly acknowledges the importance of tackling private finance. Its three overarching goals are: keeping below 1.5C of warming; increasing adaptation and making finance flows consistent with low emissions and resilience.

This gives a clear mandate for action: both tax reform and corporate regulation are needed to tackle financial flows, and both nationally in Ireland and at EU level, ‘polluter pays’ taxes are lacking and regulation of the financial sector remains weak and fragmented. While EU regulation exists, it is designed more to nudge investors toward more sustainable investment practices by increasing transparency and reporting levels than to enforce strict standards. And it is moving in the wrong direction: the recently passed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive excluded investments; and now the EU Commission’s Omnibus legislative proposal threatens to undo the limited gains made on climate plans, as well as blocking future attempts for stronger action at national level.

The Risk of Inaction

Fossil fuel investment is too profitable to remain weakly regulated. If Ireland continues with its current strategy of encouraging FDI at all costs, and relying on weak EU regulation, we are headed for catastrophe. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly warned that every fraction of a degree beyond 1.5°C brings irreversible consequences: collapsed ice sheets, vanishing coral reefs, and extreme weather events that will make vast regions of the planet uninhabitable. And yet, companies are developing oil and gas fields that could push global warming beyond 2°C.

Our research found that 91% of the investments made into fossil fuel companies by investment managers based in Ireland were to companies that have plans for fossil fuel expansion like these. Ireland cannot afford inaction on this issue.

About This Research

The figures in this report regarding investment from Ireland are based on new research commissioned by ActionAid Ireland and Trócaire. In the paper, we uncover the scale of fossil fuel investment through Ireland, who the investors are, and in which fossil fuel companies they are investing. We analyse the current regulatory framework and explain why it is inadequate—and moving in the wrong direction. And we make specific recommendations for change, which are summarised below.

Summary of Recommendations

Regulate the private financial sector
Ireland must end its outsized role as an enabler of destructive fossil fuel investment. Ireland should introduce a strong gender-responsive national human rights and environmental due diligence framework which includes the regulation of investors with respect to human rights and the environment and climate. The transposition of the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive could achieve this if downstream activities are included and the Omnibus proposal is rejected. Ireland should prohibit investments in fossil fuel expansion and require investors to implement climate transition plans consistent with a 1.5°C climate limit.

Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Ireland should endorse developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to curb fossil fuel expansion and commit to a fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels.

Support tax justice
Ireland should support bold and fair new global tax rules through the UN Framework Convention on Tax, should adopt all OECD BEPS measures, and should conduct an updated and comprehensive spillover analysis of its tax policy. Ireland should take coordinated action globally, at the EU level and domestically to introduce a range of new taxes to mobilise finance needed for climate justice, based on ‘polluter pays’ and social equity principles such as wealth taxes for the highest earners, climate damages tax on investors, fossil fuel production taxes and levies on aviation and shipping.

Finance a just transition
Ireland must also meet its fair share climate finance obligations under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement, and pay our ecological debt to the Global South. Ireland should support conditionality-free debt cancellation for countries on the front lines of the climate crisis, commit to a new UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, moving debt negotiations from the IMF to the UN, and to a debt workout mechanism that is fully representative and fair.