A Transnational Institutional Approach to Ending Female Genital Circumcision: An analysis of the challenges of disseminating international human rights norms into local contexts

     This paper examines how international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), have utilized a human... [ view full abstract ]

     This paper examines how international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), have utilized a human rights framework when trying to combat female genital circumcision (FGC), and the subsequent challenges they have encountered when doing so. These transnational organizations along with other international actors have been trying to stop the practice of FGC by framing it as a human rights abuse against the women and girls. However, these transnational actors have neglected to cultivate and sustain relationships with local social agents in the societies in which they are operating, leading to tensions between local practices and universal human rights norms. This paper critiques the use of a purely human rights framework in international campaigns to eradicate FGC and rather encourages the establishment and sustenance of local network receptors to help indigenize the fight against the practice, in line with the receptor approach theory. The main research questions guiding this paper are: What role have international organizations, such as WHO, UN, and UNICEF played in eliminating FGC within Eastern Africa? How effective have these transnational organizations been in balancing respect for cultural difference with their goal of disseminating universal human rights norms in the pursuit of their goals to end FGC? I will be drawing upon three main theoretical frameworks: the first being that of gender-based violence, followed by an analysis of international organizations as transnational actors, and finally the process of the global dissemination of human rights norms. This paper utilizes a host of sources including peer-reviewed academic research, first-hand accounts of FGC, and reports published by these transnational actors on the status of their work combatting FGC. This paper argues that through using a human rights framework to combat FGC in East Africa the transnational institutions of WHO, UN and UNICEF have failed to adequately account for local perspectives and institutions and thus have not succeeded in their goal of curbing this practice.