Policy failure threatens little immigrant girls

ON March 8 last — International Women’s Day — the Irish Forum for Global Health and Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs, co-hosted a seminar — Aiming for Maternal Survival: Promoting the Rights of Women and Girls.

There were presentations and discussions on the consequences of child marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), gender-based violence and unsafe childbirth.

I have lived and worked in a north African country where the rights of women and girls are not protected from these injustices. Nothing can prepare you for witnessing the death of a woman in childbirth or the complications of FGM in a young girl, even if you are a trained midwife as I am.