development of an EU plan of actions on FGM pursuant to the due diligence principle; encourages the EEAS and the Member States to continue to address the issue of FGM in their political and policy dialogues with partner countries where the practice is still perpetrated, and to include in these dialogues human rights defenders already working on ending the practice, along with girls and women directly affected by the practice, community leaders, religious leaders, teachers, health workers, and government officials both at local and national level; stresses the need for the EEAS to develop a specific toolkit on FGM as part of its actions to implement the EU strategic framework on human rights and democracy; 135. Underlines that progress on reproductive health has been limited in some contexts by violations such as child marriages, early and forced marriage and the failure to enforce a legal minimum age of marriage, coercive practices such as forced sterilisation or FGM; 136. Welcomes the commitment of several Member States to combat violence against women, domestic violence and FMG, in particular its cross-border aspects; reiterates the need for coherence on EU internal and external policies on these issues, and urges the Commission to make it a priority to end violence against women and girls, as well as feminicide, and, through the allocation of appropriate financial resources, to support targeted and innovative programmes both within the EU and in third countries; encourages the EU and its Member States to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence; 137. Welcomes the adoption of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims1, and the introduction of a new strategy by the Commission entitled ‘The EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016’; points out that trafficking in human beings is a complex transnational phenomenon rooted in vulnerability to poverty, lack of democratic cultures, gender inequality and violence against women; emphasises the need to place greater emphasis on the gender dimension in dialogue with third countries on this issue; calls, finally, on Member States that have not yet ratified the UN ‘Palermo’ Protocol on Trafficking in Persons and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings to do so as soon as possible; 138. Emphasises the crucial role played by women in the political life of the Southern Neighbourhood; welcomes election results that have resulted in a considerable increase in the number of women in political fora; 139. Calls on the Council, the Commission and Member States to promote, in particular, the ratification and implementation by the Members States of the African Union the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa; Rights of the child 140. Recalls the specific commitment made in the Lisbon Treaty to focus on children’s rights in EU’s external policies; points out that the near-universal adoption of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child provides a particularly solid international legal foundation to pursue progressive policies in this area; recommends that the rights of the child should be taken 1 OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, p. 1.