A/HRC/44/33 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 38/6, the Human Rights Council reiterated that female genital mutilation was a harmful practice that violated, abused and undermined the human rights of women and girls, posed a serious threat to their well-being and was linked to other forms of harmful practices. Like other harmful practices, female genital mutilation is driven by gender inequality and patriarchal social norms or factors that perpetuate or condone ideas and practices around the subordinate position of women with respect to men and their stereotyped roles. In resolution 38/6, the Council also expressed its concern about some emerging trends, such as the medicalization of the practice and cross-border instances, despite increased efforts to put an end to the practice at all levels and a decline in its global prevalence. 2. Through resolution 38/6, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to organize a two-day expert meeting, preferably in Addis Ababa, in close cooperation with other United Nations entities, in particular the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss progress, gaps and challenges in the application of human rights norms, standards and principles to the prevention and elimination of female genital mutilation in various contexts, including at community and national levels, across borders and in the context of population movements. The Council also requested OHCHR to submit a report on the outcome of the meeting at its forty-fourth session. 3. The expert meeting took place on 17 and 18 July 2019. Twenty-five experts and practitioners from 15 countries and different backgrounds, including scholars and researchers, medical and judicial actors, civil society and United Nations representatives participated in the meeting and shared diverse experiences relating to the elimination of female genital mutilation. The discussions were guided by four major topics, namely comprehensive and rights-based policy frameworks to end female genital mutilation; enforcement of legislative measures and accountability, including across borders and in the context of population movements; countering the medicalization of female genital mutilation; and innovative approaches at the community level and scaling-up of interventions to address social norms and strengthen social accountability and data collection. Each of these topics is discussed below. II. Comprehensive and rights-based policy frameworks to end female genital mutilation 4. In accordance with resolution 38/6, participants in the expert meeting affirmed that female genital mutilation was a human rights concern. It represented a manifestation of gender-based discrimination anchored in social and cultural norms by which women and girls were placed in a subordinate role in society. As such, it should not be addressed as a stand-alone issue. It was also closely related to other harmful practices, including child, early and forced marriage. The effective prevention and elimination of female genital mutilation required States to address the underlying systemic and structural causes in which the practice was rooted. That involved the establishment by States of a well-defined, comprehensive, rights-based and locally relevant holistic strategy that would include supportive legislation and policy measures, combined with political commitment and accountability at all levels.1 Such a holistic strategy must be coordinated both vertically and horizontally and integrated into national efforts to prevent and address all forms of harmful practices. It was stressed that the human rights obligations of States outlined particularly in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child provided the basis for the development of such a holistic strategy. 1 2 See joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices..