Mr. Colm O'Gorman:

Our recommendations to the Presidency come from our global movement. The cases are adopted by our movement. These are the cases we have highlighted via our European institutions office and in co-operation with our movement across Europe.

Female genital mutilation is a particularly barbaric practice. To somehow try to use the defence that it is a traditional practice does not stand up. A harmful tradition or practice can be a human rights violation and can be clearly identified as such. We are working, not just at European but also at global level, to address the issue of female genital mutilation as part of our work on maternal mortality and women's rights in general. We have a very particular campaign across all 27 member states of the EU which is co-ordinated by the Irish section of Amnesty through our European institutions office. The aim of this campaign is to try to ensure that the kind of legislation that was thankfully introduced in Ireland in recent years will be forthcoming elsewhere. That is the type of legislation we want to see being put in place. However, there is also a need for clear action on the part of the EU in order to address female genital mutilation within Europe. This is a good example of why we believe there is a need for clear coherence between EU foreign policy and internal policy. This is, perhaps, a very obvious area in which that is necessary. If we are going to talk about female genital mutilation - and other issues - in countries where it is a traditional practice, we also need to take seriously the impact of that practice on EU citizens and people living within the Union.