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Hormozgan, Iran: Meetings with scholars on FGM
26.10.2017. By Rayehe Mozafarian
After numerous reports on FGM in Hormozgan by various associations and publishing materials, finally one of the provincial governors of Hormozgan acknowledged the problem and announced to act:
Director General of the Office of Social and Cultural Affairs of Hormozgan Governorate has stated that we will have meetings with scholars on FGM of girls. (more…)
Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM: Progress in Asia
Press release by WADI / Stop FGM Middle East & Asia
February 6th 2017. On the seventh official International Day of Zero Tolerance to female genital mutilation (FGM), it has been 13 years, that WADI first brought the issue FGM happening in Asia, in this case Iraq, to the international agenda. In this last decade WADI’s campaign against FGM in Iraq has yielded great success as a recent study by the Heartland Alliance in cooperation with Unicef and the High Council of Women Affairs shows. The rates of FGM in Northern Iraq have decreased dramatically when comparing mothers and daughters. Among mothers surveyed 44,8% reported to be cut compared to 10,7% of their daughters. The success of a comprehensive campaign becomes even more evident when looking at the figures of regions where WADI’s campaign started and has been going on since more than ten years: In the region of Halabja only 1.1% of daughters are cut today in comparison to 40% of mothers. (more…)
Survey: Majority of religious leaders pro FGM in Kermansheh, Iran
11.8.2016. By Stop FGM Middle East. A recent survey among Sunni religous scholars in the Iranian province of Kermansheh shows that a majority of them (67%) believe that “female circumcision” is religiously obligatory or at least recommended for girls and women. In this province in the West of Iran, female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced by Sunni Kurds who adhere to the Shafi’i law school. Many of them believe that Islam commands them to have their girls cut. (more…)
How a religious ruling seems to have stopped FGM in the 1950s in Ahwaz, Iran
9.8.2016 By Stop FGM Middle East. Two new studies shed more light on the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East. For the first time, a study explores whether FGM is practiced in Syria – and comes to the conclusion that no evidence of its existence can be found.
Another study explores the history of FGM in the region of Ahwaz in the South-Western Iranian state of Khuzestan. Through talking to older women the PhD-student Susie Latham found that FGM was common in this region but has been abandoned completely without any official program in place. Furthermore, she found that it was first replaced by a milder form before the practice was stopped entirely.
Iran: New book about FGM is distributed among health workers
5.7.2016. By Osman Mahmoudi. The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) affects Kurdish women and girls in the Iranian province of Kermanshah and continues within a complex web of social, cultural and economic justification. It is medically unnecessary and has adverse physical, sexual and psychosocial consequences. (more…)
Talking to circumcisers in Iran: Kind women, violent tradition
22.2.2016. By Rayehe Mozafarian
More than 7000 communities across Africa are working to abandon FGM. But there are some other countries in the Middle East and Asia where FGM is also common as a tradition. Despite the efforts of some organizations in the Middle East and Asia mutual cooperation between the respective governments and international organizations is difficult in some countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and etc. (more…)
FGM: Slow progress when talking to the UN about numbers
5.2.2016, by Stop FGM Middle East
UNICEF just came out with new numbers on FGM. Instead of 140 million, the United Nations Children’s fund now estimates the number of women and girls having undergone female genital mutilation worldwide to be at least 200 million. Those extra 60 million come from adding Indonesia to the list of countries “where FGM is most concentrated”.
But FGM in Indonesia is no news. Everybody who is concerned with FGM knows that the practice is widespread not only in Indonesia, but also in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. In the case of Indonesia, there were several small and large studies showing how widespread FGM was. In 2003, a large-scale study by the Population Council and USAID found that 86-100% of girls aged 19 reported to be “circumcised” (number of households surveyed: 1694). (more…)
Day of Zero Tolerance: Campaign in Kurdistan in danger
Stop FGM Middle East Press Release, Suleymaniah and Berlin, February 6th 2016
After a most successful year campaigning against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi Kurdistan and many countries in the Middle East and Asia, WADI has to announce that large parts of the campaign will not continue. (more…)
Female Genital Mutilation footmark in south of Iran
3.2.2015. On the occasion of International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM, we are featuring a background on the practice of FGM in the province of Hormozgan in Southern Iran. Our partner Rayehe Mozafarian who has done a study in that region is reporting about her encounters with traditional midwifes. (more…)
Study in Iran: They call it tradition because they believe it is a prophetic tradition
14.12.2015. By Rayehe Mozafarian
For most of the people, it is surprising that Female Genital Mutilation is still happened in Iran and African countries have created in their minds when they hear the term of FGM/C for the first time. While it can be found in most parts of the world with different percentages. The main cause of the widespread prevalence of FGM/C is the migration. Many studies have been done in Iran. Some Iranian researchers believe that FGM/C has fallen sharply but is still common. There are no figures from the past. Therefore, there is no way to measure how much this practice has declined in Iran. So it is important to point out that Iranian girls are the victims of FGM/C in some parts of the south and west. (more…)