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FGM: BBC/ Guardian Film about the campaign to stop FGM in Iraqi-Kurdistan
Today Guardian Films present a short version of a co-production with the BBC about the decade long fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi-Kurdistan. The BBC-Guardian team has followed two filmmakers who spend almost a decade reporting the greatest taboo subject in Kurdish society. Nabaz Ahmed and Shara Amin persuaded people to talk about the effects of FGM. Their film became an important tool in a capmpaign the grassroots organisation WADI launched to combat FGM and get the practice outlawed in 2011. Latest figures by WADI show that in some regions of Iraqi Kurdistan the number of girls being mutilated has fallen by over 60% in the last few years.
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Film by Nabaz Ahmed, Shara Amin, Patrick Farrelly, Sinead Kinnane, Jordan Montminy, Maggie O’Kane and Alex Rees
- Length: 17min 06sec
- 2013
Hivos and Wadi Call for Action on FGM in the Middle East/ West Asia
For Download: Leaflet on FGM in the Middle East
Significant decrease of FGM in Iraqi-Kurdistan – new survey data
Kurdistan Tribune. 21.10.2013. In several Iraqi Kurdish regions female genital mutilation (FGM) has declined significantly within a decade.
During the last six months, the Iraqi-German NGO Wadi has collected data on the prevalence of female genital mutilation in the areas of Suleimaniyah, Halabja, Raniya, Goptata and Garmyan. Having discovered in 2004 that FGM was practiced widely, Wadi’s mobile teams developed a village-by-village approach in their campaign to raise awareness among women about the medical and psychological consequences of the practice.
The new data is based on interviews with 5,000 women and girls and indicates that this approach has led to a steep decrease in the practice. While 66 – 99% of women aged 25 and older were found to be mutilated, the percentage in the pertinent age group 6 – 10 was close to zero in Halabja and Garmyan. In both areas FGM was previously practiced widely and where the awareness campaign began first. In Suleimaniyah the rate of mutilation among 6-10 years old girls is at 11%, in Goptapa 21% and in Raniya – Wadi’s most recent operation area where the rate used to be close to 100% – has now dropped to 48%. The usual age for the cuttings is between 4 and 8 years in this region. Read more
Significant Decrease of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi-Kurdistan, New Survey Data Shows
20.10.2013 By Wadi
Significant Decrease of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi-Kurdistan, New Survey Data Shows
In several Iraqi Kurdish regions female genital mutilation (FGM) has declined significantly within a decade.
During the last six months, the Iraqi-German NGO Wadi has collected data on the prevalence of female genital mutilation in the areas of Suleimaniyah, Halabja, Raniya, Goptata and Garmyan. Having discovered in 2004 that FGM was practiced widely, Wadi’s mobile teams developed a village-by-village approach in their campaign to raise awareness among women about the medical and psychological consequences of the practice.
The new data is based on interviews with 5,000 women and girls and indicates that this approach has led to a steep decrease in the practice. While 66 – 99% of women aged 25 and older were found to be mutilated, the percentage in the pertinent age group 6 – 10 was close to zero in Halabja and Garmyan. In both areas FGM was previously practiced widely and where the awareness campaign began first. In Suleimaniyah the rate of mutilation among 6-10 years old girls is at 11%, in Goptapa 21% and in Raniya – Wadi’s most recent operation area where the rate used to be close to 100% – has now dropped to 48%. The usual age for the cuttings is between 4 and 8 years in this region.
In past years Wadi has conducted a comprehensive statistical survey on the overall prevalence of FGM in the Iraqi Kurdish region and found 72% of the adult women to be affected. Since then Wadi’s research has been focusing more on young girls because they provide indications on the current trends. A decrease in FGM among young girls is a strong evidence for FGM being practiced less now. This important information gets blurred when measuring only the overall prevalence.
The new survey is based on oral accounts, not on medical checkups. It should be noted that FGM is now legally banned and women might be inclined to conceal the practice. At the same time, the teams that conducted the interviews are in long-term and close connections to the communities in which they work and have intimate knowledge of the conditions on the ground. The survey, therefore, provides a genuine indication of significant decline in the practice of FGM.
Wadi’s teams visit the villages in their respective operation areas on a regular basis. They gather the women and discuss various issues – be it social conflicts, women’s rights, female and baby health care, and also FGM. Wadi’s approach is to gradually build up relationships of trust by long-term work within each community and by providing support to the women in their day-to-day problems. FGM is addressed by showing a documentary on FGM in Kurdistan in which a doctor, a mullah and other respected persons speak out against the practice. The film is followed by a discussion and an exchange of opinions. In most cases the discussion will continue for weeks and months.
In addition to face-to-face awareness Wadi is also engaging in advocacy and public mobilization efforts in order to give people a voice, initiate necessary discussions and strive for adaptation of the legal framework. Public action is backing the individual approach.
In 2011, after years of campaigning, the Kurdish regional parliament finally passed a ground-breaking law banning many forms of violence against women and children, including FGM. Since then Wadi, supported by the Dutch Hivos and the German Foreign Ministry, has concentrated on informing the public about the existence of this law and raising awareness about its implications. Wadi trained police officers, conducted midwife trainings, established the first FGM-free villages in Iraq, and consulted for the government on implementation of the law. Public events drew the attention of the media and spread the word about the law.
In their daily work in the villages, Wadi’s mobile teams are telling the people about the law and explain its purpose. In Halabja and Garmyan, the places where Wadi provided the most intensive awareness on the ground, 58% and 39% of the interviewed women respectively report that they know a lot about the law, whereas in Raniya only 8% said so.
The combination of individual and public action has proven effective in bringing substantial change in people’s behaviors within a fairly short time. If applied in the rest of the region, FGM can become history within a few years. To achieve this aim cooperation of both local government and international actors is required, including the pertinent UN agencies. At present, nearly a decade after the prevalence of FGM in the region was first made publicly known Wadi continues to work to raise awareness and to reduce the practice on the ground in the rural areas.
Exploration of pathways related to the decline in female circumcision in Egypt
19.10.2013 A research about the decline of FGM in Egypt
By Sepideh Modrek and Jenny X Liu, published in BMC Public Health
Background
There has been a large decline in female genital circumcision (FGC) in Egypt in recent decades. Understanding how this change has occurred so rapidly has been an area of particular interest to policymakers and public health officials alike who seek to further discourage the practice elsewhere.
Methods
We document the trends in this decline in the newest cohorts of young girls and explore the influences of three pathways—socioeconomic development, social media messages, and women’s empowerment—for explaining the observed trends. Using the 2005 and 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Surveys, we estimate several logistic regression models to (1) examine individual and household determinants of circumcision, (2) assess the contributions of different pathways through which these changes may have occurred, and (3) assess the robustness of different pathways when unobserved community differences are accounted for.
Results
Across all communities, socioeconomic status, social media messages, and women’s empowerment all have significant independent effects on the risk of circumcision. However, after accounting for unobserved differences across communities, only mother’s education and household wealth significantly predict circumcision outcomes. Additional analyses of maternal education suggest that increases in women’s education may be causally related to the reduction in FGC prevalence.
Conclusions
Women’s empowerment and social media appear to be more important in explaining differences across communities; within communities, socioeconomic status is a key driver of girls’ circumcision risk. Further investigation of community-level women’s educational attainment for mothers suggests that investments made in female education a generation ago may have had echo effects on girls’ FGC risk a generation later.
The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.
New Publication by Unicef and Al Azhar
14.10.2013. UNICEF and Al-Azhar International Islamic Center for Population Studies released a book entitled FGM/C: Between the Incorrect Use of Science and the Misunderstood Doctrine, which is the second edition of a former publication from 2005, now reviewed by the Former President of Al Azhar University Dr. Ahmad Omar Hashim, the Former Minister of Waqfs Abdullah Al Hussaini Hilal and the Former-Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa Mohamed.
The book explains the religious background of FGM in Islam and refutes the idea of female circumcision being Sunna. It points to the sexual and reproductive funtions of female external genitalia and the Islamic demand for sexual fullfillment for both sexes. It also discusses common misbeliefs such as the idea that a clitoris would grow as large as a man’s organ. The book is a usefull collection of arguments against FGM within an Islamic context. Yet, it errs when claiming that “within the Islamic World, FGM/C is practiced only in Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, and some parts of Yemen and Oman.” This leaves out a large number of countries where FGM is practiced such as Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia and several African countries where Islam is the majority religion or the religion of a large minority.
Female Circumcision Widely Practiced in Malaysia
11.10.2013. Asia Calling reports from Malaysia where female genital mutilation is legal. In 2009 the countries highest Islamic body the Department for Islamic development has declared it mandatory.
And as Nabila Ali reports in June 2013 from KL recent surveys by the University of Malaya are showing practice is on the rise. Yet, not without critics. The organization Sisters in Islam are putting all their efforts into raising awareness about FGM.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpVwOb7A2Ms&w=420&h=315]
Questions about campaigns and data
4.10.2013. How can it be expained that rates of female genital mutilation are not dropping in one country despite campaigns to eliminate the practice while they decrease in another where no campaign has targeted the issue? How robust are figures when out of the same group of women 94 percent answer to have undergone FGM in one year, but only 84 percent say this when surveyed ten years later? These questions are posed by Henrietta L Moore and William Wyse in the medical journal BMJ referring to the recent Unicef report on FGM.
Read article: Female genital Mutilation/Cutting in BMJ 2013;347:f5603
Saudi Ministry Sheikh pro FGM?
19.9.2013. In a recent fatwa a certain Sheikh Al-Hajji Al-Kurdi from the Saudi Ministry of Awqaf & Islamic Affairs endorsed female genital mutilation in its “sunna” form which stipulates the cutting of the clitoris prepuce. He distinguished this allowed “Islamic circumcision” from forbidden “Pharaonic circumcisions”.
On the ground, however, it is common opinion that “sunna circumcision” includes the cutting of the clitoris.
A fatwa like this one raises serious questions about the prevalence of FGM in Saudi Arabia.
Female genital mutilation among Iraqi Kurdish women: a cross-sectional study from Erbil city
8.9.2013. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the primary health care centers and the Maternity Teaching Hospital in Erbil city, involving 1987 women aged 15–49 years. The self-reported prevalence of female genital mutilation was 70.3%, while it was 58.6% according to clinical examination of the women’s genitalia. Only 30% of the participants were aware about the health consequences of female genital mutilation. More than one third (36.6%) of the women support the practice and 34.5% have intention to mutilate their daughters.
Berivan A. Yasin, Namir G. Al-Tawil, Nazar P. Shabila and Tariq S. Al-Hadithi: Female genital mutilation among Iraqi Kurdish women: a cross-sectional study from Erbil city, September 2013