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Islamic Pluralism: The Global Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation Continues
23.3.2013 by Irfan Al-Alawi
A global campaign to eradicate female genital mutilation [FGM], often misnamed “female circumcision,” continues. While foreign NGOs have made Iraqi Kurdistan a center of the effort to do away with this practice, many observers have argued that it is not a “Kurdish” problem.
FGM is also not just a “Muslim” phenomenon. However widespread it may be among Iraqi Sunni Kurds, its acceptance in Islam is limited. According to the German relief organization WADI [The Association for Crisis Assistance and Development Co-operation], in the four provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan, only the farthest north, Dohuk, which borders on Turkey, shows little evidence of FGM at any age. Among the remaining three “governorates,” in the province of Erbil, named for the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), 63% of women have undergone the atrocious custom; in Suleymaniya, 78%; and in Garmyan/New Kirkuk, the southernmost, 81%. Read more…
“A Tiny Cut”: Female Circumcision in South East Asia
The Islamic Monthly, 12.3.2013
I am a Muslim of Malay ethnicity, who was born in Singapore, where Malays are an ethnic and religious minority today, and lived there until I was 24 years old. The Malays, of whom 99 percent are Muslim, are the indigenous people of Singapore and the Malay archipelago. Until the arrival of the British colonizers in the early nineteenth century, this area (which covers what is south Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and south Philippines today) shared many cultural and linguistic similarities.
When I was about six years old and attending a kenduri, or ritual feast, for two male cousins who had just been circumcised, I whispered to my mother, “Are girls circumcised too?” Growing up in Singapore in the 1990s, boys were commonly circumcised before puberty (around eight or nine) – making it seem like a rite of passage into adulthood. The six year-old me observed the fuss and attention they got: they were not allowed to eat certain foods, they could only bear to wear a kain sarong for up to two weeks due to the pain, and had to be fanned at night to keep the wounds dry. These ritual feasts to celebrate a boy’s circumcision are less common today, partly due to the increasing use of doctors to carry out circumcision, and usually on infants a few weeks old.
Statement on Behalf of the OIC Secretariat 57th Session of the Commission of the Status of Women
11.3.2013 The Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Countries stresses the necessity to eliminate FGM in this statement.
Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation – Too little action taken against FGM
6.2.2013. Press Release – The Hague and Suleimania,
Currently one hundred and forty million girls and women are estimated to have undergone a female genital mutilation (FGM) procedure. On the 6th of February, which was introduced by the United Nations as The International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Hivos and Wadi – frontrunners in the battle against FGM – call upon the Secretary General and the General Assembly of the United Nations to step up efforts to end this practice. We do so at a time when women’s rights and violence against women are discussed more than ever before, especially in the Middle East.
One hundred and forty million is a very large and deplorable number, albeit an estimatie mainly focusing on Africa. However, growing evidence provided by the field work of Wadi proves that FGM is not only an ‘African problem’ but also widespread in various parts of Asia, including the Middle East, so a much higher number may be closer to the truth.
Time to act NOW
On the international level, the passing of a resolution calling for a ban on FGM by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2012 was a milestone. Although the resolution is not legally binding, it will enhance the moral and political incentive for governments to act on FGM. And it will encourage activists worldwide to speak out against a deadly ‘tradition’.
Therefore, it is time to act now. In 2003, the United Nations proclaimed the imperative of eliminating female genital mutilation. However, no action has been taken to date by the UN bodies to stop FGM in the Middle East. Why, for instance, have they not yet become active in Iraq? What is being done about FGM in Yemen, where instances in some regions are known to reach 50 percent?
For this reason WADI and Hivos are calling upon the UN, specifically on the Secretary General, to step up efforts to end this irreparable and irreversible abuse that currently affects up to one hundred and forty million women and girls globally.
Furthermore, we call upon the UN to conduct research into the scale of FGM in the Middle East and to collect reliable data in Middle Eastern countries where undeniable evidence for the harmful practice can be found.
Let us break the silence and search for the truth.
BACKGROUND
A promising example of what is possible to achieve in the fight against FGM in a remarkably short period of time can be witnessed in Iraq. Nineteen months ago, on June 20, 2011, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq adopted a comprehensive law against many forms of gender-related violence, including FGM. It was a unique step in the whole region – and it was put on the agenda by committed activists and NGOs. Wadi, the organisation at the heart of the cfight against FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan, has been teaching and campaigning against FGM for nine years now.
Although it was an enormous success, the adoption of the law was merely a first step. The next challenge is to ensure that the law will be implemented properly. And since FGM does not stop at the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan, Wadi and Hivos – in coordination with Pana Center in Kirkuk – are rallying for support on an initiative to pass a law against FGM for the whole of Iraq. On 6 February 2013, a draft law for a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraq will be submitted to the Iraqi parliament.
In Kirkuk, a town of mixed ethnic population in the north of central Iraq, Pana and Wadi have been cooperating on comprehensive field research that revealed that 38 percent of the 1212 females interviewed had undergone female circumcision. The research proved that FGM exists among Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis and Shi’is alike. Since Kirkuk’s population mix may be regarded as a blueprint for the whole country, the results are strong evidence that FGM is being practised all over Iraq.
Female Genital Mutilation: Many Pakistani women’s painful secret
A good insight into the situation in Pakistan gives the Express Tribune’s Sub-Editor Farahnaz Zahidi Moazzam. In Pakistan, female circumcision is known to be practiced by a few communities along the Iran-Balochistan border, and a few isolated tribes, as well as the Dawoodi Bohra community.
“I don’t want my daughter to have to go through it. I have been through it; my mom has been through it and so has my naani (grandmother).
We have been going through this forever.
It’s a custom – the done thing, but I can’t imagine my baby having to go through the same!
I am 34 and I still remember it distinctly. I felt humiliated even as a seven-year-old. It was not very painful, but I felt slighted at how they held me down, how embarrassed I felt. But most of all I feel resentment – even today – over the fact that we never talked about it before or after that. Everyone pretends like it never happened.”
This is the story related by a Pakistani mother whom I talked to today about Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), practiced in her community.
Today, as the world observes the “International Zero Tolerance Day to FGM/C”, many remain blissfully unaware that this custom, often referred to as female circumcision, is also practiced in Pakistan.
According to the World Health Organisation, FGM/C is a procedure that “intentionally alters or injures female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
The reasons are cultural, traditional and religious. Predominantly, the reason traditionally given for FGM/C is almost inconceivable – that it ensures a woman will remain chaste and guard her against promiscuity, as depending on the degree of the procedure performed, she may not be able to experience sexual pleasure as fully as a woman whose genitalia remain unaltered.
In Pakistan, female circumcision is practiced by a few communities along the Iran-Balochistan border, and a few isolated tribes, as well as the Dawoodi Bohra community. Having said as much, here it is mostly not done very invasively, as opposed to some African countries where FGM/C may involve removal of the entire clitoris and labia.
Determination to end FGM in Middle East
The Hague / Suleymaniah June 11, 2012 The silence on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East needs to be broken. To end this brutal violation of human rights that is systematically applied in the region, NGOs Wadi and Hivos are expanding their pioneering work in Iraq to eleven countries.
FGM was regarded for decades solely as an “African problem”. But it is not just that; several indications and first pilot surveys now shed light on a topic that was never spoken about: FGM is present everywhere in the Middle East.
After a first key conference in Beirut in January with FGM-activists from several Middle Eastern countries, Hivos and Wadi decided to jointly engage in a programme to combat FGM in the region. The first phase of the programme is to raise awareness about the problem of FGM in the Middle East and initialize a public discourse about it. An important aspect is also to strengthen and enlarge the regional network in combating the practice.
In a second phase, selected national partner organisations will boost a concerted effort, adapted to the special conditions for their countries. One of the aims will be the implementation of laws and policies prohibiting FGM.
The campaign Stop FGM Middle East is already under way. First public starting points will be the official presentation of a survey by Wadi about the rates of FGM in the Kirkuk-Governorate on June 13, a public event in the Dutch Parliament addressing FGM on June 19 and a celebration in Suleymaniah on June 20 of the adoption of the domestic violence law in Iraqi Kurdistan one year ago, the first law in the region that bans FGM.
Background
Women’s rights in the Middle East are violated structurally and on a large scale. Domestic violence, FGM, child and forced marriage and honor killings are the gravest forms of gender based violence. Among these violations, FGM is most widespread.
The practice is culturally deeply rooted. It is seen as a religious obligation and as a means to suppress the sexuality of women. On the other hand it is also believed that circumcision forms a prerequisite for successful marriage. Fact of the matter is that millions of girls who are mutilated suffer from the negative physical and psychological consequences of the mutilation.
Wadi in Iraq
German/ Iraqi organization Wadi has been working tirelessly to fight FGM in Iraq, mostly in the Kurdish region and more recently in Kirkuk, with the support of Hivos. It was found that more than 50% of the women and girls in Iraqi Kurdistan were mutilated. In Kirkuk, where the ethnic composition of the population is representative for the whole of Iraq, 40% of the women had undergone FGM. Several efforts – field work, campaigning and public pressure – have raised awareness amongst the population and politicians about the negative consequences of FGM. This eventually led to the Kurdish parliament passing an anti FGM law.
WHO definition
FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is often carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death. FGM comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons and is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers.
download “Determination to end FGM in Middle East”
For more information please contact
Wadi
Oliver M. Piecha, oliver.piecha@gmx.ne t ,+49-15154824532
and Hivos
Gemma Andriessen, g.andriessen@hivos.nl , +31-619596639