Another BBSAWS workshop in 1984, "African Women Speak on Female Circumcision", attracted participants from 24 African countries and around the world. The workshop agreed that FGM is "a violation of human rights, an encroachment on the dignity of women, a debasement of women's sexuality, and an unwarranted affront on the health of women".[6] Identifying it as a human-rights violation was an important step; previously FGM had been regarded as a medical problem, possibly with a medical solution.[7]