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Project Updates
Video-Clip: At the doctor’s office
By Stop FGM Middle East. 4.2.2015. In the Iraqi Kurdish region a law against FGM is in place and all TV and radio-channels are airing information about FGM. This is part of a large-scale campaign against Female Genital Mutilation which is run by WADI and Unicef. Politicians, doctors, clerics, policemen and the media are supporting the battle against this harmful traditional practice. In this video-clip a doctor is explaining the harms of FGM to a mother seeking advice. (more…)
Video-Clip against FGM: Mobile teams stop the practice
By Stop FGM Middle East. 4.2.2015. In this video-clip one of WADI and Unicef’s mobile teams arrives at a remote village. These mobile teams visit the Kurdish villages regularly educating about FGM and the law against domestic violence, but also discussing daily issues and needs of the population trying to find solutions. In the Iraqi Kurdish region all relevant actors are embracing a large-scale campaign against Female Genital Mutilation which is run by WADI and Unicef. Politicians, doctors, clerics, policemen and the media are supporting the battle against this harmful traditional practice. (more…)
Video-Clip against FGM: Information makes a difference
By Stop FGM Middle East. 4.2.2015. In the Iraqi Kurdish region all relevant actors are embracing a large-scale campaign against Female Genital Mutilation which is run by WADI and Unicef. Politicians, doctors, clerics, policemen and the media are supporting the battle against this harmful traditional practice. In this video-clip which is shown on Kurdish television a remote village in the Kurdish mountains is shown. A man dressed in traditional Kurdish gown listens to a radio program informing people about the harms of FGM and the law which prohibts it. The woman a girl at her hand hears the program and chenges her mind about mutilating the girl. The two main actors, the man and the woman, are champions of the battle against FGM: Sarhad Ajeb is the Anjuman (village head) of Toutkhel, one of the FGM-Free villages in Iraq. He and his wife Nasreen are at the fore front of the campaign convincing neighboring villagers, presenting the cause in TV-shows an talking to press and politicians. (more…)
Combating FGM in Kurdistan: Some Statements of the Activists
18.01.2015; By Haje Keli, Wadi
As the activities of WADI against Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi Kurdistan enter another year in cooperation with local organizations and supported by UNICEF and HIVOS, a number of members of the various organizations collaborating on this effort have provided some feedback after about half a year of work on the project. (more…)
Yearly Report 2013-14
11.1.2015 by Stop FGM Middle East
Stop FGM Middle East was founded as a website and a small research project in early 2013 with the aim of making the existence of FGM in the Middle East and Asia outside of Africa public. In August 2013 we started working with a small team to bring together activists from the Middle East and push the issue on the agenda of international organizations, national governments, religious representatives, the media and non-governmental organizations.
Here is our public report of the first year of our work. (more…)
Orchid Project: FGC in Iraqi Kurdistan
22.12.2014. by Orchid. On November 13th 2014, the Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women Organisation (KMEWO) held an event to promote their campaign titled ‘The Campaign: Stop FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan’. The event was held in correspondence with their annual general meeting, as KMEWO sought to bring together an array of people to discuss FGC in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Active since 1999, KMEWO seeks to promote issues that affect women, in particular regarding FGC; child and early forced marriage; honour killings, and domestic violence. They provide advice, hold education courses to teach women English and human rights, advocate to the government through lobbying and campaigning, and hold FGC awareness workshops across London. ‘The Campaign: Stop FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan’ is therefore only a branch of KMEWO’s work, however in the era of growing knowledge and awareness to FGC, they have decided to focus on gaining a deeper understanding of the practice. They subsequently held this event to share their knowledge and actively promote discussions on FGC in Iraqi-Kurdistan.
Iranian Film tackles Female Genital Mutilation
15.12.2014. By Stop FGM Middle East. The short film “Almond” tells the story of Awat a young Kurdish woman in Iran who is struggling with the consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM). When she has to marry, she stops talking entirely which soon becomes the main subject of the village talk. The director Mokhtar Masoumian spent six months to collect information about FGM in Iran, consulting and taking advice from experts and spend over 16 thousand dollars personally to realize the project. (more…)
FGM in Iran: Blade of Islam or patriarchal custom – an interview with scholars, activists and survivors
4.12.2014. by Stop FGM Middle East. The Iranian “Radio Farda” aired a 30-minutes special on female genital mutilation (FGM) happening in Iran on November 25th. It is the first time, that a radio in Iran tackles this topic and the journalist Roja Karimi Majd does so with great insight and her interviewees answer in remarkable openness. A mother who feels incredibly sad she had let this happen to her daughter says: “It ruins the life of people. Most divorces are because if this. Couples hate each other.” Her daughter talks about the effect it had on her last relationship: “When intercourse happened I could not show any reaction, I was cold. In the end my partner thought that he was the problem and this is how our relationship broke up.” The sociologist Rayehe Mozafarian explains why she calls it the blade of Islam while the activist Parvin Zabihi sees patriarchal society at the root.
Kurdish FGM-Free Village invited to Talkshow
3.12.14. By Haje Keli. Kurdistan’s first FGM-free village as talk show guests on ‘Binewshe” (KurdSat TV) to discuss the village’s commitment to ending FGM.
As a part of WADI’s Stop FGM campaign, the village of Tutaqal vowed to end FGM among their inhabitants. This week WADI was invited to appear on the very popular TV-show ‘Binewshe’ as part of the awareness around the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25). Instead of inviting “experts” and doctors Ms Suad Abdolrahman, head of Women’s Projects at WADI thought it was more rewarding to invite the villagers of Tutaqal as guests on the show as they can better relay their message of why it was important to end FGM in their village. (more…)
Elimination of FGM in one generation possible – After 9 years campaigning 70% oppose practice in Iraqi Kurdistan
15.9,2014. By Stop FGM Middle East. Only ten years ago, female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraq was a non-topic. Outside Iraq hardly anybody had heard of it, in the country itself it was well hidden within communities. Nine years ago, WADI started a comprehensive campaign against the practice in the Kurdish region of Iraq with unprecendented success. Today, the vast majority of people know of the harmful effects of FGM and want the practice to stop as a new study shows. Mutilation rates have dropped significantly in this very short time period. This gives hope that FGM can be eradicated in the Middle East and Asia within one generation if campaigns are launched. (more…)