FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IS A VIOLATION OF WOMEN’S RIGHT; Says Gamcotrap Programme Coordinator

March 15, 2012
Sarjo Camara Singhateh
FOROYAA Online

During the celebration by European Delegation to the Gambia at the Alliance Francais Gambienne, the GAMCOTRAP Programme Coordinator, Amie Bojang-Sissoho , the guest speaker at the International Women’s Day delivered a paper on Female Genital Mutilation in the Context of Women’s Rights in the Gambia.

“It is another important day to bring attention to the situation of women in different parts of the world. We need to reflect upon the lives of rural women and how we inspire girls for a brighter and better future. Women and girls are exposed to many vices that affect their rights as females, one of which is Female Genital Mutilation – FGM. Therefore I would like to bring our attention to the issues of FGM in the context of Women’s Rights in the Gambia,” She stated“
In 2011 alone, using the Cluster Approach, 2,730 men, women and youths participated in 39 activities GAMCOTRAP had conducted, she said. She said thirty-two (32) of these activities were conducted outside the Kanifing Municipality and most of them in remote, rural and semi-urban areas of The Gambia where the prevalence of the practice is high”. She narrated that more importantly, over 80% of them called for a law to protect girls from FGM. “The advocacy for a law has gone far and GAMCOTRAP has been capturing the voices in a Draft proposal for a law against FGM taking into account the recommendations coming from the rural women in particular”. And this document is being drafted and will be submitted to the relevant Government institutions to take it to the next step,” she said. 
GAMCOTRAP Programme Coordinator, Amie Bojang-Sissoho said the Gambia government is saluted for observing this day moreso for ensuring that the Gambia enacts laws to protect Children and Women’s rights. 
“The Children’s Act 2005 and the Women’s Act 2010 are in the right direction to protect and promote the rights of women and girl-children”, Amie said. 
“For twenty-eight years, efforts are being made to understand FGM in the context of women’s rights. One must first of all accept that women have rights and the bodily integrity is one of such rights, which FGM affects. The context of women’s rights starts with the rights of the girl-child and it is the responsibility of the State to protect the rights of its entire citizenry and in this case the rights of women and children from FGM.” She asserted. 
Amie mentioned that there is resistance from some religious leaders who oppose the campaign to raise awareness that FGM is not a Religious obligation and women’s rights issues in general especially, if it is directed at empowerment of women. Some of them she said have influence over the public media, both TV and radio while Women’s Rights organizations fighting against FGM and promoting the rights of women are denied similar opportunities. “Yet most of these people in authority will call for the education of the masses and raising awareness. It should be acknowledged that while educating the people on women’s rights, the public media has an important role to play in providing equal access and opportunities to activists in raising the issues and responding to the debates.” Mrs Sissoho observed that it is through dialogue and debates on social issues that we educate each other on the rights of women and thus influence change of perceptions and attitudes towards women.
She stated that despite the resistance in the public media, direct community outreach has proven to be positive. NGOs have responded to the call to raise the awareness of people and a lot has been done in that area. Mass consciousness has increased about the negative impact FGM has on the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and children. 
“In our community outreach activities, she said, FGM is situated in the context of women’s rights and we raise the consciousness of rural women in particular to realize that:
FGM is a Culture practice and that cultural practices can change when people realize that they outlived their value;
FGM is a not a religious obligation (Farda nor Sunnah) for Muslim Women; FGM affects the Health of Women and Children; FGM Violates the bodily rights and sexuality of women; FGM is Violence against Women and Children and Allah the Creator of the women’s body designed it for a purpose and it should be left intact for such functions”.
“Understanding the dynamics of the decision making processes, GAMCOTRAP takes the Cluster approach in which communities who share cultural ties with the same circumcisers are brought together to reach consensus to protect their girl-children. This approach made it possible for representatives from 564 communities in three regions to support their Circumcisers to stop the practice of FGM.” 
She pointed out that raising consciousness amongst rural women has over the years led to three ‘Dropping of the Knife’ celebrations and the most recent was in 2011 and it took place in the Lower River Region. “To date, GAMCOTRAP has recorded ninety-eight Circumcisers that have dropped their knives and have been supported with grants to engage in alternative livelihood strategies we called Alternative Employment Opportunities - AEO to earn small income instead of cutting girls. They have been recognized for other important roles they play in ensuring social cohesion and development of their communities.” She noted 
GAMCOTRAP Programme Coordinator, Amie Bojang-Sissoho continued to say that, girl-children and women are not completely protected by the laws of the Gambia against FGM; that despite the fact that the Gambia has ratified and domesticated most International and Regional Conventions and Protocols, the legal protection of girls and women from the practice of FGM has been removed from both the Children and Women’s Acts; thus making the ratification of the Protocol to the African Charter in particular irrelevant to the commitments of The Gambia. 
GAMCOTRAP Programme Coordinator, Amie Bojang-Sissoho in her key note address noted that the role of NGOs is to advocate; that it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that laws and policies are in place and in this case, there is a specific call for a law to ban FGM in the Gambia. There is no need for ambiguity about FGM and hiding it under the general guise of ‘harmful traditional practices’. It should be specific just like early and force marriage or rape has been clearly mentioned in the laws of the Gambia. Not mentioning FGM underrates its importance in the development agenda.
“The challenges in addressing FGM in the context of Women’s Rights are not only denying access to the public media, but even Women’s Human Rights Defenders are being put at risk to silence them. It is time that the government takes stock on how its policies on women and children are being challenged by the very institutions that are supposed to contribute to their effective implementation,” She stated 
“Let me give an example of a recent situation justifying the need for a law against FGM. This year, 44 girls were subjected to FGM in a particular community and two of them bled profusely and ended up in Bansang hospital, the girls suffered. The parents did not want to take the girls to the hospital but when they realized it was not the witches but the loss of blood, they had no choice but to seek help from the hospital,” she said. Amie Bojang-Sissoho noted that when the cases were eventually reported, FGM was not mentioned as the root cause because of fear to be punished by law. It was reported that Malaria was the cause of the anaemia.” Many of such cases make it difficult to get the statistics on the direct immediate impact of FGM on girls. She also said the difficulties of child birth are not immediately recognized by most of the health workers as having something to do with the scars and in some cases keliod caused by FGM.” She stated.
“If the adults of today are to inspire girls in the future, she opined that we have to take responsibility to protect the women of tomorrow, who are the girls of today. The girls of today she said have to be inspired to say no to FGM and defend their rights. Without being pessimistic, let us celebrate the gains made so far and build on them” the GAMCOTRAP Programme Coordinator, Amie Bojang Sisoho concludes.

To read the full article on the FORAYAA website, click here

Women’s Month Spotlight: Angelique Kidjo Raises Her Voice to End FGM

March 14, 2012
Chevelle Dixon
Africa.com

Recently, I had to pleasure of attending the United Nations' Raise Your Voice To End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Benefit Concert, featuring UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelique Kidjo. Noted by Forbes as one of the most powerful celebrities in Africa, the Grammy-Award winning artist has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002. Kidjo is a native of Benin and the founder of the Batonga Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based charity which funds and empowers education for young African women.

The concert the was presented by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in cooperation with the Department of Public Information, UNFPA, and UNICEF. Female genital mutilation refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 100-140 million women and girls around the world have experienced the procedure, including 92 million in Africa. Approximately three million girls and women each year (8,000 a day) is at risk of mutilation or cutting. According to WHO, FGM is practiced in 28 countries in Africa, in parts of the Middle East, and within some immigrant communities in North America and Europe. Italy made FGM illegal, once having an issue with FGM amongst its immigrant community, and is pushing for a resolution to be passed at the UN this year.

The concert celebrated the strides made collectively by UN programs, African communities to end FGM, and by governments to take solid legal and policy action in favor of total abandonment of the practice. According to UNFPA and UNICEF 2011 findings, approximately 2,000 African communities have abandoned female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), bringing the total of communities renouncing the practice to 8,000 over the last few years. The primary attendees of this concert were UN country delegates, who sat on the main floor while I watched overhead in the balcony.

If you have yet to see Angelique Kidjo in concert, you must know the she is her own back-up singer and dancer. She is a true artist! Shed belted out some of my favorites such as “Malaika” and “Afrikia,” and a new favorite song, "Petit Flor," which Kidjo’s father used to sing to her in French. Kidjo dedicated "Petit Flor," as she said, “to all those young little girls that are being born at the very moment that we are talking, for them to bloom without care without mutilation, but in freedom, laughter, health and education.”

My favorite part of the concert was the middle, when Kidjo stopped and addressed the crowd stating her mission:

Tonight is not just a regular concert of Angelique Kidjo; it’s a concert that I want to dedicate to all the little girls and women of the world that suffer from FGM. I’m born in Africa, and raised in Africa…. and I have been going around the world, talking to people through this microphone, empowering every single human being because we individually and collectively have the power to change the world. Today I’m hear to let you know, and to tell you, that the resolution has to be passed.

Kidjo excited the pan-Africanist in me, when she spoke further of her pride in being African and the role of Africans must play in addressing dangerous cultural practices,

We Africans, we can deal with our own problems. We can find solutions to it. And I always said, everywhere I go, ‘Don’t speak for me because I’m African. I have a brain. I can use it. Thank you’. If I stand tall and defend my continent and my culture so well, it's because growing up in Benin has showed me that being a girl, is not only being a daughter of a father or somebody else’s wife. I am a human being before all. We have the duty of preserving the next generation, and I know we can with the help of our friends…that really think the best for us and give us the freedom to do whatever we want to do. Let’s take that freedom and let’s take this opportunity to show the world that we Africans can make long-lasting decisions for ourselves. It’s about time that we play hardball and big ball with everybody else. I know we can, we surely can. And please let’s do this. I’m too proud of my continent to walk with my head down ashamed of not having an answer for this call tonight.

UNFPA-UNICEF joint programs on FGM uses a culturally sensitive human rights-based approach to promote local abandonment of the practice irrespective of religious or cultural beliefs. According to the UNFPA report, Kenya is has made a significant dropping rates of FGM in women aged 15-49 of 15.8 percent from 2003-2008. In September 2011, Kenya’s parliament passed the bill Female Genital Mutilation Bill, making it illegal to practice FGM. The bill proposes a jail sentence and fine, including a provision for a life sentence should an offender kill a woman in the act. Other African countries that stepped up against the practice of FGM include Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Senegal, Kenya, Somalia, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau.

I felt a sense of pride to usher in Women’s Month with a concert where Ms. Angelique Kidjo raised her voice to end FGM and reminded me of the continuing struggles of women worldwide. As Women’s Month progresses, let’s continue to highlight the impact of African women on women-specific issues.

Check out the entire concert on the U.N.'s website.


To read the full article on the Africa.com blog, please click here

INTERNATIONAL: Universal Ban on FGM is a Goal Within Close Reach

March 9, 2012

Khady Koita and Figa Talamanca  

Daily Monitor

Yesterday, the world observed International Women’s Day, celebrating women’s achievements throughout history and throughout the world. This day is also an appropriate occasion to remember the gaps hindering – sometimes in a brutal and cruel manner – the process towards the full recognition and protection of women’s rights.

Worldwide, millions of women and girls still live with the threat or consequences of harmful traditional practices that violate their fundamental right to physical integrity. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is among these violations, and it too frequently goes unchallenged under the pretext of respect for cultural norms. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is estimated that more than 3 million girls and women are subjected to the practice each year and between 100 and 140 million are estimated to have undergone FGM.

Over the past decade, thanks to the long-standing dedication of women’s rights advocates and the increasing political commitment shown by affected states, significant and encouraging progress has been made.

As of today, 20 African countries have enacted national legislation that prohibits and penalises FGM; the African Union has taken a strong position condemning the practice through its Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, which bans FGM as a violation of human rights; and many governments are implementing national action plans that, in conjunction with the law, provide information and awareness campaigns, especially in rural areas where the practice is more widespread.

Nevertheless, many challenges remain, hampering a coordinated effort to rid the world of this blatant human rights violation, which needs to be addressed by global political leadership if we are to consign it once and for all to the history books where it belongs.

To respond to this challenge, an ever-expanding coalition, composed of No Peace Without Justice, the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, Euronet-FGM, and the NGOs La Palabre and Manifesto 99, have spearheaded efforts of an international campaign to promote the adoption by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) of a Resolution that universally and explicitly bans FGM.  

A UNGA Resolution could be a pivotal instrument to spur greater and more cohesive political mobilisation worldwide. Critically, a UNGA ban would express political will at the highest level to recognise– and ensure the adoption of all measures to bring an end to–FGM as a human rights violation against millions of women and girls around the world.

This is a shift that women’s rights advocates have tenaciously worked towards over the past two decades. While strengthening the importance of previous UN texts aimed at protecting women’s rights, the international community’s universal condemnation of this harmful practice would serve to strengthen existing laws that ban FGM and provide new impetus for those states that currently do not have such laws on their books.

In July 2011, at the African Union Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, African heads of state adopted a decision in support of a resolution banning FGM at the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This historic moment provided a significant impetus to the campaign, which has been growing since a high-level conference in Ouagadougou in December 2009, held under the patronage of Ms Chantal Compaoré, First Lady of Burkina Faso and coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban FGM Worldwide.

Discussions at the African Union have also intensified, spurring similar discussions at the UN. Burkina Faso, a leader in efforts to end FGM, has redoubled its efforts. On February 27, at the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, a high-level parallel event convened by the Ban FGM Coalition provided further substantial confirmation of the strong commitment by African States to support the process.

The meeting, opened by Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, had as its keynote speaker Ms Compaoré, and included speeches by seven ministers (Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Italy, Niger, Togo, Tunisia). A clear message was delivered: the UN and its members need to take responsibility and heed to the voices of the innumerable human rights groups, women’s associations and individual advocates that fight a daily battle to challenge this harmful practice and work towards its elimination.

Grammy-award winning singer Angelique Kidjo, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, picked up the message and urged the UNGA to swiftly adopt a Resolution at her concert in support of the fight to end FGM on February 28. The time has come for all states to demonstrate their commitment to human rights and, particularly, the human rights of women, by taking an unequivocal and joint stance in favour of the adoption this year by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution banning FGM worldwide.

Khady Koïta is president of the Senegalese NGO “La Palabre”. Niccolo’ Figa-Talamanca, secretary general of No Peace Without Justice, co-authored this article

To read the full article on the Make Every Woman Count website, click here

Beating female genital mutilation 'will take education not activism'

March 13, 2012 

Paul Robertson

International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Lowering the numbers of women and girls subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) across the world requires further education among communities that practice the procedure.

This is according to Dr Bintu Adamu, a spokesperson for the International Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation (CAGeM), who said the projects run by the organisation approach people in one-to-one settings, which is preferred to larger events.

"We cannot make a community publicly denounce a tradition of several thousand years unless they know exactly how it is harming them," he explained.

"The decision to abandon FGM is as much a personal one as it is a communal one," the expert added.

CAGeM is run by physicians and volunteers and has successfully launched campaigns in 382 villages in West Africa.

The body joins up with the government and other charities to tackle the socio-cultural environment around female genital mutilation in the hope of reducing the social pressure to cut girls.

Another successful group fighting the harmful tradition is Tostan, the approach of which Julia Lalla-Maharajh, founder of UK charity Orchid, recently told British national newspaper the Independent should be encouraged because it involves both men and women in the fight to change views about the practice.

Posted by Paul Robertson 

To read the full article on the FIGO website, click here

EU project saves thousands of girls from female genital mutilation

March 6, 2012
Reliefweb

Brussels, 06 March 2012 - An innovative EU and UNICEF project has helped thousands of families, communities and countries to change attitudes and end harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Africa, says a report on the EU funded project ahead of International Women's Day. As a result of education and awareness raising, girls in thousands of communities in Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Senegal and Sudan are no longer subjected to this practice.

In Senegal, where 28% of women aged 15-49 have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, astonishing progress has been made. In just under a decade, over 5,300 communities have abandoned the practice, bringing the country close to becoming the first in the world to declare total abandonment, expected by 2015.

In Egypt, where 91% of women are affected by the practice, the project has also made some progress, with female genital mutilation/cutting becoming less common amongst younger age groups. The number of families signing up to the abandonment of the practice also increased substantially: from 3,000 in 2007 to 17,772 in 2011. In Ethiopia, despite high prevalence rates, the practice is similarly declining (between 2000 and 2005 rates dropped from 80 to 74%).

The project helped to raise awareness of the dangers of female genital mutilation/cutting, by encouraging large-scale community discussions and national debate on issues of human rights, as well as collective decision-making through extended social networks about gender norms. This method resulted in communities coming together for district-wide public declarations of the abandonment of these practices.

Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, welcomed the results:

"I find it totally unacceptable that in the 21st century, this practice, which is a clear violation of human rights, is still taking place. That is why I am so pleased to see that EU aid can make a real difference. By raising awareness on the dangers of female genital mutilation/ cutting at grassroots level, we have helped to provide young women across Africa with an alternative, as well as giving them the chance to become an active part of their own communities in the future."

Background In many African countries, female genital mutilation/cutting is a centuries-old custom, believed to make girls marriageable.

Estimates show that up to 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of female genital mutilation/cutting and are living with painful complications. Each year around three million girls – 8,000 a day – suffer the results of it. The practice occurs in African countries, and some countries in the Middle East and Asia. Girls are generally aged between five and 11 and most are cut without any medical supervision, but evidence shows the age at which girls are cut is decreasing.

Across the five African countries, the EU/UNICEF project has implemented a common approach based on a comprehensive understanding of how to change social norms to bring about an end to harmful practices.

The project, implemented by UNICEF, received a total of €3,991,000 (3.9 million) in EU funding over the period 2008-2012.

For more info Website of the Directorate-General Development and Cooperation-EuropeAid:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/news/

http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/focus

UNICEF website – focus area child protection: http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58002.html

UNICEF Publication: ‘The Dynamics of Social Change – Towards the Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in Five African Countries”

http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/618

You can watch a video on this project at http://www.unicef.org/eu/norms.html

Contacts :
Catherine Ray ( +32 2 296 99 21 )
Wojtek Talko ( +32 2 297 85 51 )

To read the full article on the Reliefweb website, click here

Cutter's Denounce Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Surrender Knives

UNFPA Uganda
February 19, 2012

AMUDAT - Uganda: It turned out a moment filled with emotions that hot and sunny afternoon in a little village of Amudat, north-east of Uganda,when a group of women publically rose up to denounce the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and surrender their cutting knives to the authorities.

Dancing to the rhythm of the drums and the mellow tunes that set the mood, the group of once-committed women cutters, all colorfully dressed, snaked their way to the main-table and one by one, handed over their much-treasured tools – the FGM knives – to the Chief Guest of the day, Uganda’s State Minister of Gender and Cultural Affairs, Hon. Rukia Nakadama.

This spectacular event took place during the event to commemorate the 9th International Day of Zero Tolerance against FGM held at Pokot Senior Secondary school in Amudat district, on 6th February 2012. The women had travelled 73km from Karita Sub-County, Amudat district to the venue to take part in the event.

Amidst cheers from the crowd, the women said they made the decision to stop the practice after understanding that FGM was harmful and had negative impact on the lives of women and girls. They said that they were educated about the negative consequences of FGM by REACH (Reproductive, Educative and Community Health Programme). REACH is a community based organization supported by UNFPA.

“I decided I did not want to involve myself in this practice anymore. I don’t want to spill innocent young-girls’ blood anymore,” said one of the ex-cutters Margaret Chebet Kapkoikoi. She had been cutting girls for over four years. She also attributes her decision to retire from FGM cutting to the teachings in the church.

Hon. Nakadama praised the ex-cutters for their gesture and commitment to eradicate the harmful practice. “The handing over of these knives today is a positive gesture that society has now declared the abandonment of the practice,” said Nakadama.

This acceleration in the abandonment of FGM has been attributed to the UNFPA- UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM. This programme is grounded onto the ‘social norm approach’ that provides for community participation in the campaign to eradicate FGM. Community groups, including religious leaders, local leaders (LCs), FGM survivors, youth groups, ex-cutters and individual activists take action to publically denounce FGM; create awareness about the dangers of cutting women/girls; and advocate for change in attitudes towards a culture that is supportive of the social and economic empowerment of women and girls.

more pictures on http://www.flickr.com/photos/unfpauganda/

To read the full article on the UNFPA website, click here

Could there be an end to FGC in Egypt after 2011's 'Arab Spring'?

February 15, 2012
Orchid Project

According to an alarming recent article in the New Republic, “the decades-long movement to stop FGM has become a casualty of the power struggle in Egypt.”


Since the revolution, and despite gradual progress, the fight to end FGC in Egypt has become even more of an uphill struggle. The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) has been stilted since the revolution, and there is increasing concern that FGC will fall off the political agenda. Political instability has led to a 75 percent cut in Egypt’s FGM-related donor funds from the United Nations since January. A lack of current funding means that Egyptian NGOs cannot push the issue.

On top of this, the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, filling the gap left by Mubarak’s departure, is worrying due to their past opposition to a complete ban on FGC on grounds that Islam does not forbid FCG. Manal Abul-Hassan, a female leader of the Muslim Brotherhood sees the campaign to end FGC as a promotion of a western agenda by NGOs. Activists fear that the traditionalist elements in the group pose a threat to their work.

First Lady involvement

Another factor negatively impacting the campaign to end FGC is its former association with Mubarak’s wife who played a major role in politicizing the anti-FGC movement. The backlash against Mubarak is a threat to the integrity of the continuing anti-FGC movement, and activists are who are keen to distance themselves from Suzanne Mubarak.
“We didn’t wait for Madame Mubarak to talk about FGM,” says Sidhom Magdi, head of the Egyptian Association for Comprehensive Development. But there is real fear that Suzanne Mubarak’s former involvement will undo the success of recent years.

The depressing news is that post Arab Spring, FGC activism is making glacial progress. “We have no leader and we have no strategy,” says Nihad Abu Kumsan, a lawyer and head of the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights. The U.N is keeping a low profile, fearful of the minefield of politics surrounding the issue.

The current activist movement in Egypt has tough times ahead. It must be careful to steer clear of being seen as promoting a western agenda, and of carrying on Mubarak’s legacy. However with the wave of optimism and possibility that has swept across the Arab spring, Orchid has every hope that the new generation will lead Egypt’s women away from having to conform to a tradition that no longer holds a place in Egypt’s contemporary society.

The history of FGC in Egypt

Female genital cutting is thought to have originated in the Nubia region of the Horn of Africa which is recognised today as Egypt and northern Sudan. Scholars date FGC back to around 200 BC. They suggest that infibulation (the most extreme form of FGC–type 3) was practised across all layers of society, spreading from the ruling classes to lowest class slaves. The term ‘pharaonic circumcision’ stems from the practise of FGC by the ancient Pharaohs.

Two thousand years worth of custom still influences, and today statistics place Egypt as one of the countries where FGC is most prevalent; according to 2008 UNICEF figures, 91% of Egyptian women are cut.

Yet despite high prevalence rates, there has been a gradual change in attitudes over time, particularly in younger generations. Studies suggest that FGC is becoming less common among the younger surveyed age groups. According to UNICEF, the percentage of married women who think FGC should be continue to be practised has dropped from 82% in 1995 to 63% in 2008.

 

The movement to end FGC in Egypt

FGC has been taboo in Egypt, and in large part continues to be so. Until the last two decades it was not part of any public dialogue. What brought FGC in Egypt into a national and international agenda was the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, hosted in Cairo.

This conference succeeded in highlighting the negative health impacts of FGC upon girls. As a result, FGC became medicalised and families had their daughters cut by the medical profession.  Prevalence figures in Egypt according to the 2008 DHS showed 31.9% of FGC was medically performed.

At the same time, a movement was emerging in the 90s which brought together grass-roots organisations, human rights activists, feminist groups, doctors and civil society, who began lobbying the government to act to end FGC.

Government champions the case for abandonment

 

The government was beginning to champion the case for abandonment which the anti-FGC movement was pushing for. In 1996, Egypt’s Health Ministry ordered an end to the practice. However it allowed for exceptions in cases of emergency, a loophole that critics described as so wide that it effectively rendered the ban meaningless.

Despite this policy and FGC being raised within certain spheres and receiving press coverage, it had not yet widely become a contested issue. In Egypt the practice is common among Muslims, but also in the Christian community which make up 10% percent of the population. Waters were muddied as many religious leaders from all faiths claimed that FGC was a religious requirement. There was also a rising backlash against what was being perceived as a ‘Western conspiracy’ against Egyptian traditions.

 

High profile tragedy

 

Then in 1997, two young girls died after botched operations and local media began reporting the details, including making front page news in Egyptian independent daily, Al Masry al Yom. Activists reacted to the deaths with public demonstrations, generating even more coverage.

Prominent Egyptian doctor and activist Nawal El Saadawi spoke out about ten year old Badour Shaker’s death at the hands of a doctor performing FCG:
“Bedour, did you have to die for some light to shine in the dark minds? Did you have to pay with your dear life a price … for doctors and clerics to learn that the right religion doesn’t cut children’s organs.”


Following this incident, a broadening movement of opposition to FGC grew from the grassroots upwards, fuelling the case for legal reform. The NCCM, a government agency that sets national health and social policies, played a leading role in pushing FGC onto the agenda. A new generation of medical university professors and doctors established a movement called ‘Doctors against FGC/M’ which publicly announced their support for abandonment. They worked with NCCM to increase awareness amongst medical staff around the dangers of FGC as well as the implications of violating medical ethics codes.

Yet there was still opposition to any kind of ban on FGC. A 2005 government health survey found that, “the practice of female circumcision is virtually universal among women of reproductive age in Egypt.”

Religious involvement

 

FGC on religious grounds remained a difficult issue and there was a push for Christian and Muslim scholars to publicly denounce FGC. The Al-Alzhar Supreme Council of Islamic Research, which is the highest religious authority in Egypt, issued a fatwa against FGC, saying that it has no basis in Islamic law (see our previous blog about that conference).  Religion is powerful in changing attitudes, but this specific fatwa does not seem to have had the influence it could.


A recent UNICEF report for example commented that programmes by the Coptic Evangelical Organisation of Social Services resulted in 50 villages abandoning the practice in 2009. The report also notes that the subject of FGC has ceased to be a taboo and is now widely discussed by men and women especially in younger generations.

In 2008, the Egyptian parliament responded and banned FGC outright, categorising it as a deliberate harmful bodily injury on girls and women.

 

References

 

UNICEF ‘The Dynamics of social change : Towards the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting in five African countries’
New York Times, ‘Voices Rise in Egypt to Shield Girls from an Old Tradition’
The New Republic, ‘For Young Women, a Horrifying Consequence of Mubarak’s Overthrow’, October 2011

To read full article on the Orchid Project website, click here

Australia Sees Rising Demand for Female Genital Mutilation

September 12, 2011
IntactNews
Jonathan Friedman

Last year saw the failure of policy considerations to legalize "ritual nicks" in the United States. With increasing immigration from high-prevalence countries, FGM is on the rise in Australia and many are calling for increased vigilance against this harmful practice in all its forms.


Sterilized scissors showing excised clitoris from an infant
(NEW YORK, NY) — A recent article in the Australian Medical Journal by Ben Mathews, LLB, PhD, calls for increased protection of girls and women from female genital mutilation (FGM). Australia is seeing an increasing demand for FGM along with a rise in immigration from high-prevalence countries.

Female genital mutilation (FGM, also known as female circumcision or female genital cutting) refers to a wide range of procedures where parts of the external female genitalia are cut off to satisfy cultural requirements of chastity, cleanliness, and aesthetics. FGM is often practiced in poor sanitary conditions, leading to significant complications.

Dr. Mathews writes in response to last year's controversy surrounding the alleged considerations of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RANZCOG) to legalize "ritual nicking." Less harmful than male circumcision, "ritual nicking" is the practice of extracting a drop of blood from the clitoris to satisfy cultural adherents of female circumcision.

Last year saw the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to legalize "ritual nicking," the reason why the topic was brought under critical discussion by RANZCOG. The AAP policy recommendation was reverted after widespread outrage from human rights organizations, including Equality Now and Intact America, an organization that also campaigns against male circumcision.

Legal Protection
FGM is banned in many countries worldwide, including in at least 16 African countries. Current human rights statutes protecting girls and women from FGM include the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Protocol of the Rights of Women in Africa, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child.

Children are currently protected from genital cutting under Australian law:

It is illegal to infringe upon a person's right to bodily integrity.
Courts have authority over parents who do not act in the child's "best interests."
Parents do not have the right to perform any treatments without a child's consent once the child reaches "sufficient understanding and intelligence."

Dr. Mathews stands behind the legal protections against all forms of FGM, which currently outlaw even consensual adult FGM procedures.

There are many justifications for these strict legal protections, writes Dr. Mathews, which are based on the following findings:

FGM predates the Koran and the Bible, and is therefore a cultural practice.
FGM is a form of direct social control on females' bodies and sexuality.
FGM victims have a high risk of infection, hemorrhage, and even death.
FGM causes complications for intercourse, childbirth, menstruation, including recurrent infections, chronic pain, and perinatal death.
Infibulation (or FGM type III, the most severe form of FGM, around 10% of all occurrences) requires re-incision for intercourse and childbirth, and includes a higher risk of fatalities during childbirth.
FGM causes severe psychological consequences comparable to rape, including post-traumatic stress disorder and a sense of violation.
FGM has significant effects on longevity.

 Many support the decision to allow "ritual nicking" in a medical setting, believing it preferable to the reality of girls and women being taken abroad or underground to have FGM performed on them in unsterile conditions. To others, legalizing "ritual nicking" is a shocking concession.

"To sanction medically performed FGM would leave undisturbed the damaging assumptions motivating it, and would endorse the unjust attitudes to girls' and women's rights embodied in the practice," writes Dr. Mathews.

Recommendations
FGM presents practical challenges for medical practitioners, who must call upon relevant organizations in case they are asked to perform, treat, or give advice about FGM. Current Australian law requires doctors, nurses, school principals, and police officers to report each suspected instance of FGM.

Dr. Mathews calls for more research on the incidence (annual rate) of FGM, and on evaluating strategies in Australia in response to increased demand for FGM.

Ben Mathews, LLB, PhD, is an associate professor of law at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

To read the full article on the IntactNews website, click here