Sunday, September 27, 2009
Ghanaian Women To Know More About Genital Mutilation
September 25, 2009
In remote villages in Ghana, Florence Ali sees firsthand the side effects of female genital mutilation.
Although banned by Ghana's laws, it's a cultural tradition still practiced in some villages, said Ali.
"We see the side effects particularly when women come in to deliver their babies,'' said Ali, president of the Ghanaian Association for Women's Welfare.
A World Health Organization study showed that women who have suffered the most serious form of genital mutilation have a higher chance of suffering from a post childbirth hemorrhage.
She said when some of the women return to their communities they isolate themselves because they're ashamed of their wounds.
Saturday night at a Ghanaian function in Lauderhill, Ali will speak about female circumcision, or genital mutilation, and her work to bring more awareness to this issue.
Ghanamma, a group of South Florida women, many with ties to Ghana, meets monthly to find ways to help women living in Ghana with health issues.
"We formed this as a sisterhood and out of friendships,'' said Adiiza Bucary, of Wellington, president of Ghanamaa.
Burcary, who has lived in South Florida since the mid-80s, said she grew up in the city and was spared the cultural tradition. But she said she knew of several cases, including her great grandmother.
"I never saw it, but I knew it was being practiced,'' said Bucary, a local dietitian.
Formed only three years ago, Ghanamaa members said they were able to raise a modest $1,500 last year to send to the Ghanaian Association of Women Welfare to assist with education.
At their function Saturday, they hope to raise more. She event is at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, where tickets go for $50 and include music and dance.
Ali, a retired nurse and midwife, said her association is looking to eventually purchase a sturdier vehicle to spread their message in areas that are hard to get to now because of the poorly built dirt roads.
Sometimes when they don't reach women with genital mutilation until they already are in child birth it's too late, she said.
"We have got to get to a grassroots levels to push this type of education,'' she said.
Asylum denied in female circumcision case
CARYN TAMBER
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
September 23, 2009 8:03 PM
The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will not review the asylum case of a woman whose father has said he will bring her back to Senegal, circumcise her and marry her off to a much older man.
The court, which is authorized to have 15 judges but currently has only 10, split 5-5 Monday on whether to rehear the case en banc. The tie means Francoise A. Gomis, whose asylum petition was denied by three-judge panel in July, will not get a rehearing.
Gomis, who came here on a work visa that expired in April 2003, filed an asylum petition in 2005. She testified that she did so after learning that her 15-year-old sister had been forcibly circumcised, suffering blood loss and infection, and that when their brother complained to the police, he was told to go home.
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, who penned the majority opinion in July, also wrote Monday’s opinion. He called female circumcision “abhorrent” but said the court must defer to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which found that Gomis failed to prove it was “more likely than not” she would be circumcised.
Judge Roger L. Gregory, the vehement but sole dissenter in July, requested the rehearing and objected to its denial as contrary to settled law.
“There is…one basis for asylum that is clearly established in both this Circuit and the other federal courts: protection from female genital mutilation,” Gregory wrote Monday.
“Gomis’s family made it clear that were she to return to Senegal, there is no chance that she could escape circumcision at their hands,” he added. “Neither invocation of sympathy nor innovation in the law of asylum was necessary to grant Ms. Gomis’s petition; it merely required the application of our precedent — simple justice.”
Seeking high court review
Even before the denial of rehearing en banc, Gomis had petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari to examine the 4th Circuit panel’s decision on procedural grounds. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Immigrants’ Rights Project, which filed the cert petition, said he was heartened by the 5-5 vote.
“It’s disappointing that the 4th Circuit decided not to rehear the case, but we take some comfort in the fact that five of the 10 judges believed there was more than 50 percent likelihood she would be subject to FGM — female genital mutilation,” Gelernt said. “That is a far higher burden than she faces with her asylum application, which is what is at issue in the Supreme Court petition.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment on the result.
Gomis has asked for both asylum and withholding of removal. Asylum requires the claimant to show a 10 percent chance of harm if she is returned to her own country, but withholding requires a 50 percent chance.
While asylum claims must be filed within one year of unauthorized entry, there is no deadline for filing a withholding claim.
There are exceptions to the one-year asylum filing deadline, including for refugees whose circumstances change after the deadline has passed.
Gomis testified that her sister’s forcible circumcision constituted a change in circumstances.
According to her 2005 asylum petition and testimony, she had fled Senegal because her family wanted her to undergo circumcision and get married to a man in his 60s.
Female circumcision was made illegal in Senegal in 1999, the same year Gomis’ parents allegedly took her out of school to arrange her marriage. She was 21.
With the help of an uncle in France, Gomis left home and obtained the visa to work as a domestic servant for a friend of her uncle.
Gomis presented the Immigration Court with what Gregory called “a mountain of evidence” that she would be circumcised if she returned to Senegal, including a letter from her father saying that she had embarrassed the family and that he would use “all means” to get her back and circumcise her.
Immigration Judge Thomas G. Snow denied Gomis’ petition for withholding, finding that a State Department report on female circumcision in Senegal indicates that she probably would not be forced to undergo the procedure.
Most Senegalese women, especially in big cities like Gomis’ native Dakar, have not been circumcised, he wrote. Circumcision is typically performed on young girls or at puberty, not on grown women, he found.
Snow also denied Gomis’ petition for asylum, ruling that Gomis had missed the deadline and that her sister’s circumcision was not enough to constitute changed circumstances.
The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the denial, as did the 4th Circuit panel in July.
Gregory’s dissent took the majority to task for “focus[ing] on general statistics” and not considering the circumstances specific to Gomis’ case.
Gomis’ family has said she will be circumcised and, in her small ethnic group, almost all women are circumcised, many right before marriage, he noted.
“To deny her withholding of removal and send her back to Senegal, to virtually certain circumcision, would be a great miscarriage of justice,” Gregory wrote. “If we choose to ignore the blatant evidence before us of her specific situation by shielding our eyes with general statistics, then we will be sending her to a torturous future of which I shudder to imagine.”
Jurisdictional point
Gomis’ Supreme Court petition focuses on whether the appellate court had jurisdiction to review the ruling on her claim of changed circumstances.
All three judges on the July panel agreed that they lacked such jurisdiction. However, Gomis’ lawyers argue that the circuits are split on that point, since the 9th Circuit has gone the other way.
“We’re very concerned that people who are legitimate refugees are being denied asylum in this country because of the one-year filing deadline,” said Eleanor Acer, director of the refugee protection program at Human Rights First, which filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to take Gomis’ case.
“Because of the fact that there hasn’t been judicial review in some circumstances, there’s no doubt that some individuals who would be entitled to asylum have been deported back to places where they would face persecution,” she said.
The government’s response to Gomis’ Supreme Court petition is due Oct. 14.
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
September 23, 2009 8:03 PM
The full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will not review the asylum case of a woman whose father has said he will bring her back to Senegal, circumcise her and marry her off to a much older man.
The court, which is authorized to have 15 judges but currently has only 10, split 5-5 Monday on whether to rehear the case en banc. The tie means Francoise A. Gomis, whose asylum petition was denied by three-judge panel in July, will not get a rehearing.
Gomis, who came here on a work visa that expired in April 2003, filed an asylum petition in 2005. She testified that she did so after learning that her 15-year-old sister had been forcibly circumcised, suffering blood loss and infection, and that when their brother complained to the police, he was told to go home.
Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, who penned the majority opinion in July, also wrote Monday’s opinion. He called female circumcision “abhorrent” but said the court must defer to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which found that Gomis failed to prove it was “more likely than not” she would be circumcised.
Judge Roger L. Gregory, the vehement but sole dissenter in July, requested the rehearing and objected to its denial as contrary to settled law.
“There is…one basis for asylum that is clearly established in both this Circuit and the other federal courts: protection from female genital mutilation,” Gregory wrote Monday.
“Gomis’s family made it clear that were she to return to Senegal, there is no chance that she could escape circumcision at their hands,” he added. “Neither invocation of sympathy nor innovation in the law of asylum was necessary to grant Ms. Gomis’s petition; it merely required the application of our precedent — simple justice.”
Seeking high court review
Even before the denial of rehearing en banc, Gomis had petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari to examine the 4th Circuit panel’s decision on procedural grounds. Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Immigrants’ Rights Project, which filed the cert petition, said he was heartened by the 5-5 vote.
“It’s disappointing that the 4th Circuit decided not to rehear the case, but we take some comfort in the fact that five of the 10 judges believed there was more than 50 percent likelihood she would be subject to FGM — female genital mutilation,” Gelernt said. “That is a far higher burden than she faces with her asylum application, which is what is at issue in the Supreme Court petition.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment on the result.
Gomis has asked for both asylum and withholding of removal. Asylum requires the claimant to show a 10 percent chance of harm if she is returned to her own country, but withholding requires a 50 percent chance.
While asylum claims must be filed within one year of unauthorized entry, there is no deadline for filing a withholding claim.
There are exceptions to the one-year asylum filing deadline, including for refugees whose circumstances change after the deadline has passed.
Gomis testified that her sister’s forcible circumcision constituted a change in circumstances.
According to her 2005 asylum petition and testimony, she had fled Senegal because her family wanted her to undergo circumcision and get married to a man in his 60s.
Female circumcision was made illegal in Senegal in 1999, the same year Gomis’ parents allegedly took her out of school to arrange her marriage. She was 21.
With the help of an uncle in France, Gomis left home and obtained the visa to work as a domestic servant for a friend of her uncle.
Gomis presented the Immigration Court with what Gregory called “a mountain of evidence” that she would be circumcised if she returned to Senegal, including a letter from her father saying that she had embarrassed the family and that he would use “all means” to get her back and circumcise her.
Immigration Judge Thomas G. Snow denied Gomis’ petition for withholding, finding that a State Department report on female circumcision in Senegal indicates that she probably would not be forced to undergo the procedure.
Most Senegalese women, especially in big cities like Gomis’ native Dakar, have not been circumcised, he wrote. Circumcision is typically performed on young girls or at puberty, not on grown women, he found.
Snow also denied Gomis’ petition for asylum, ruling that Gomis had missed the deadline and that her sister’s circumcision was not enough to constitute changed circumstances.
The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the denial, as did the 4th Circuit panel in July.
Gregory’s dissent took the majority to task for “focus[ing] on general statistics” and not considering the circumstances specific to Gomis’ case.
Gomis’ family has said she will be circumcised and, in her small ethnic group, almost all women are circumcised, many right before marriage, he noted.
“To deny her withholding of removal and send her back to Senegal, to virtually certain circumcision, would be a great miscarriage of justice,” Gregory wrote. “If we choose to ignore the blatant evidence before us of her specific situation by shielding our eyes with general statistics, then we will be sending her to a torturous future of which I shudder to imagine.”
Jurisdictional point
Gomis’ Supreme Court petition focuses on whether the appellate court had jurisdiction to review the ruling on her claim of changed circumstances.
All three judges on the July panel agreed that they lacked such jurisdiction. However, Gomis’ lawyers argue that the circuits are split on that point, since the 9th Circuit has gone the other way.
“We’re very concerned that people who are legitimate refugees are being denied asylum in this country because of the one-year filing deadline,” said Eleanor Acer, director of the refugee protection program at Human Rights First, which filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to take Gomis’ case.
“Because of the fact that there hasn’t been judicial review in some circumstances, there’s no doubt that some individuals who would be entitled to asylum have been deported back to places where they would face persecution,” she said.
The government’s response to Gomis’ Supreme Court petition is due Oct. 14.
Huge support for Kenyan fugitives
YUKO NARUSHIMA
September 23, 2009
OUTRAGE at Australia's plan to deport two women possibly facing genital mutilation in Kenya has triggered an alliance between political adversaries, lawyers and refugee groups who want the Immigration Minister to intervene.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon joined the Opposition and the Greens in urging the minister, Chris Evans, to use his intervention powers to grant the women visas.
Grace Gichuhi, 22, and Teresia Ndikaru Muturi, 21, fear deportation from Sydney would force them into female circumcision. The pair were rejected as refugees by the immigration department, an independent tribunal and then the minister despite a bill before parliament aimed at protecting such women.
A groundswell of concerned readers yesterday contacted the The Age, appalled by the situation and eager to help.
''If the laws are changed, these women have a clear case for asylum,'' Senator Xenophon said. ''I urge the minister to exercise discretion to give these two women asylum.''
The comments were echoed by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who said the women sounded like ''prime candidates'' for the proposed ''complementary protection'' laws aimed at building on existing refugee criteria.
Currently, refugees' fear of persecution has to be based on ''race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion'', allowing people facing genital mutilation for other reasons to be sent home.
While Opposition spokeswoman for immigration Sharman Stone supported a second look at the pair's cases, she rejected the need for the new laws, saying the existing intervention powers were adequate.
The Coalition will oppose complementary protection in the Senate.
''The minister of the day looks at what are often very complex, one-off situations, and he or she doesn't have to adhere strictly to any convention. They can then exercise their own sense of what is right and just and humane,'' Dr Stone said.
But supporters of the change, including a member of her own party, said Dr Stone had outlined precisely what was wrong with existing laws.
Professor of public law at the University of Sydney, Mary Crock, said the changes gave certainty to women such as Ms Gichuhi and Ms Muturi, whose cases would be ''no brainers'' if departmental officials had laws to apply.
Liberal MP Petro Georgiou said current powers before the minister had limitations. He said: ''Ministerial intervention is not subject to a process other than an individual's position and the system can be improved.''
Immigration officials, who had told the women to prepare for deportation, are reassessing their claims with new information to put before the minister. Senator Evans' spokesman could not give a timeframe for a decision.
Film director raises awareness about female genital mutilation
September 23, 2009
"Desert Flower," the best-selling book by former super model Waris Dirie, has been adapted for the big screen. German-US director Sherry Hormann hopes it will draw attention to the problem of female genital mutilation.
Dirie's rise from a nomadic life in Somalia to the top of the international modeling world is well known around the world. Her autobiography "Desert Flower" has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide since it was published in 1998.
Dirie was one of 12 children born to desert nomads in Somalia. She escaped from being sold into marriage for five camels at the age of 13 and ran away to London to work for an uncle. She taught herself to read and write and five years later got a big break as a model when a photographer spotted her at McDonald's.
"Not a victim"
Opening Thursday in German theaters, director Sherry Hormann's film is a homage to Dirie's tough spirit, which made it possible for her to survive tremendous odds.
It traces her death-defying journey through the Somali desert, as she flees from the prospect of marrying a 60-year-old man and makes it to the capital Mogadishu.
The film shows Dirie's move to London, where she cleans houses and struggles to survive. Dirie is played by the glamorous Ethiopian-born model Liya Kebede.
"What interested me in Waris' story is that she isn't a victim," the Berlin-based director told news agency dpa. "She takes action - till today."
Hormann, who is better known for romantic comedies such as "Women Are Simply Wonderful" and "Doubting Thomas," however, makes it clear that the central message of the rags-to-riches film is a serious one - that the practice of female genital mutilation continues to be widespread.
Dirie was five years old when she was forced to undergo the painful procedure. A scene in the film shows a crying girl held down while a woman cuts off parts of her genitals with a razor blade. The wound is then sewn up with a coarse thread, with a tiny hole left through which to urinate.
Film crew faced hostility on location
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 150 million women around the world are affected by genital mutilation - a practice meant to prevent women from experiencing sexual pleasure.
"We want the film to at least reduce the unbelievably high number of women and girls threatened by or suffering from genital mutilation," Hormann said. "It's still carried out - even in countries that have officially banned the practice."
Hormann said she shot large parts of the film in Djibouti, home to a large Somali population. The director said the film crew faced a lot of hostility from the local population during the shooting and had to be provided with security personnel.
"The people hated us; they threw stones at us because we were white people who came and spoke about genital mutilation," Hormann told dpa. "And then when Waris turned up - that further provoked them."
A growing problem in Europe
Hormann said her main motivation for the film was to draw attention to a problem that no longer just existed in other parts of the world, but increasingly in Europe, too.
"Immigrants take this tradition (female genital mutilation) with them to their new homes. That's very unsettling," Hormann said. "That's why we hope that the film helps to raise awareness of the subject."
That's what Waris Dirie has been doing for more than a decade. The former supermodel is the UN's special ambassador for the elimination of female genital mutilation and has set up a foundation to raise public awareness about it.
"The world knows that these mutilations are wrong and still not much has happened. I don't understand why the world only looks on," Dirie said during a recent appearance at the Venice Film Festival.
The award-winning human rights campaigner said she was driven by one single thought: "Somewhere in the world, a girl is being mutilated right now and tomorrow that same fate awaits another girl."
sp/dpa/ap
Editor: Louisa Schaefer
Australia mulls Kenyan women's 'circumcision' case
September 23, 2009
SYDNEY — Australia's government is considering intervening to stop the deportation of two Kenyan women who fear they will be circumcised if forced to return home, officials said Wednesday.
Grace Gichuhi, 22, and Teresia Ndikaru Muturi, 21, have been in Australia since festivities for Catholic World Youth Day in July last year and have exhausted their avenues under Australian law to apply for asylum.
Debate is due to begin on a new law which would extend protection visas to women seeking refuge from honour killings or female genital mutilation, but it is opposed by the conservative opposition.
While current laws do not cover Gichuhi and Muturi's claims, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said he was willing to consider directly intervening in their case.
"The two women have submitted new requests for ministerial intervention and these will be thoroughly assessed," a spokesman for Evans told AFP.
"The women will not be removed from Australia while these applications are on hand."
Both women come from families where it was customary to circumcise the clitoris, a practice known in the West as female genital mutilation.
Gichuhi said her mother had been killed by members of the Mungiki sect for refusing to have her clitoris cut off, and she also feared death in the crude operation.
"They use a knife. Just a knife, no medicine," she told Fairfax newspapers.
"They circumcise you and maybe you die."
Muturi said she was sold for 10 cows to marry a 70-year-old man and would also be circumcised against her will if forced to return.
Opposition immigration spokeswoman Sharman Stone has said the proposed new law would open the floodgates to false claims and abuse.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
What does UNHCR do to combat Female Genital Mutilation?
Posted by: lisacollste
September 22, 2009
Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women and the procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths. The practice is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years. WHO estimates that 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM and that about three million girls in Africa are at risk for FGM annually. FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
Promoting gender equality and working towards the elimination of violence against women and girls, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is an integral part of UNHCR’s protection mandate in its work for refugees and other people of concern. UNHCR staff have an obligation to uphold rights and freedoms enshrined in international human rights instruments; therefore a harmful traditional practice which violates the individual rights of refugees will normally require the intervention of UNHCR. UNHCR’s Policy on Harmful Traditional Practices (1997) advises field staff to plan their strategy to address the occurrence of FGM practices carefully, in conjunction with the refugee community, implementing partners and any other relevant UN organizations. UNHCR advanced its policy in 2008 by being one of nine agencies which signed an Inter-Agency statement on eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM). This statement provides UNHCR’s operations with new and targeted guidance to address FGM.
In 2009, UNHCR published a Guidance Note on Refugee Claims relating to Female Genital Mutilation. The note affirms that FGM is a form of gender-based persecution and can constitute a ground for refugee status according to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The guidance is intended for use by those who may be involved in refugee status determination.
UNHCR has also updated the Guidance on the Use of Standardized Specific Needs Codes for the registration of refugee populations, which now includes specific codes on persons at risk of FGM, thus allowing field operations to identify and follow up on individual cases.
Below are some examples of UNHCR’s activities in 2008/09 in to combat FGM:
Ethiopia
In Eastern Ethiopia, UNHCR is in partnership with a community-based NGO, Mother and Child Development Organization (MCDO), to raise awareness on FGM. In 2008-2009, MCDO conducted weekly group discussions, referred to as “coffee ceremonies”, and mobilized youth clubs against FGM in three Somali refugee camps. They identify role models against FGM within the refugee community and provide support to those who choose not to perform FGM on their children. They train health staff on how to respond to FGM and conduct vocational skills training targeted at former FGM practitioners and groups at risk in the camps. MCDO has also established a women’s centre in Aw-bare refugee camp where women talk exclusively about their economic, social and domestic problems. Organized discussions related to FGM are held in the centre to raise awareness. In the Kebribeyah refugee camp, a workshop on FGM was conducted in August 2009 by UNHCR, the International Rescue Committee and MCDO. The workshop targeted 50 participants, amongst whom there were representatives of district authorities, FGM practitioners and spiritual leaders. The workshop included the religious aspects of FGM and used spiritual leaders to highlight that FGM is a traditional practice, not a religious one, in order to demystify some of the conceived perceptions of the practice. During the workshop, FGM practitioners underlined that they did this work due to a lack of any alternate income, and 15 boys declared that they wanted to marry a woman who has not undergone FGM.
Kenya
In Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, which hosts Somali refugees, UNHCR is raising awareness of the serious health risks of FGM through community dialogue. Inter-generational debates are held between older persons and youth to discuss the negative aspects of the culture. Support groups to fight FGM have been created, including religious leaders’ committees which support the abolition of FGM and emphasize the distinction between FGM and religion. Men Against FGM, a group of three hundred individuals, is mobilizing the refugee community, conducting peer education activities, acting as role models, and working in close cooperation with the police and agencies. There are support groups for families who have abandoned FGM, groups of former FGM practitioners, Youth Against FGM and groups for girls who have not undergone FGM. The awareness on FGM among the youth in the camp has greatly improved, through a project using sports to address FGM. This is being implemented in partnership with CARE. It has organized sports tournaments where the participants discuss FGM before and after the matches. Teachers, sports coaches and FGM survivors have been trained and the sports activities are used as a safe environment to discuss and create awareness on FGM. Radio communication has also been used to share information on the consequences of FGM. In Kakuma refugee camp, there are eleven anti-SGBV clubs targeting boys, their parents and teachers in the school, who campaign against FGM and other harmful practices.
Chad
In 2008 solar-powered radios were distributed to community points in the camps to support dissemination of messages on prevention of FGM and other types of SGBV. In 2009 a follow-up sensitization campaign against FGM was organized in the Koukou refugee camp.
Eritrea
A Women’s Association has been established with the aim of combatting SGBV and FGM.
Yemen
In 2008, workshops were conducted on SGBV, with a particular focus on FGM, for the Refugee Women Committee, Youth Club, Block Leaders and Religious leaders in Kharaz refugee camp.
Egypt
UNHCR, in partnership with Cairo Family Planning & Development Association, continues to implement awareness-raising sessions for refugee women on SGBV prevention and response, and the issue of FGM has been included in these sessions. The activity reaches around one hundred refugee women yearly. Moreover, discussions on community mechanisms to address SGBV and FGM regularly feature in UNHCR’s work with community-based refugee organizations.
Djibouti
The Men’s Association in the Ali-Addea refugee camp raises awareness among the refugee community focusing on FGM.
Other projects in partnership with UN agencies, governments and NGOs
In partnership with other UN agencies, governments and NGOs, UNHCR has also been involved in awareness raising among teachers, traditional and religious leaders and FGM practitioners, in Sudan, Liberia, Chad and Djibouti. In 2008, UNHCR joined the Donors Working Group on FGM/Cutting which supports a common approach among key governmental and intergovernmental organizations to promote the abandonment of the practice and make a major difference for girls and women worldwide.
If your field office is doing anything else to combat FGM, please let us know!
September 22, 2009
Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women and the procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths. The practice is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years. WHO estimates that 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM and that about three million girls in Africa are at risk for FGM annually. FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
Promoting gender equality and working towards the elimination of violence against women and girls, including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is an integral part of UNHCR’s protection mandate in its work for refugees and other people of concern. UNHCR staff have an obligation to uphold rights and freedoms enshrined in international human rights instruments; therefore a harmful traditional practice which violates the individual rights of refugees will normally require the intervention of UNHCR. UNHCR’s Policy on Harmful Traditional Practices (1997) advises field staff to plan their strategy to address the occurrence of FGM practices carefully, in conjunction with the refugee community, implementing partners and any other relevant UN organizations. UNHCR advanced its policy in 2008 by being one of nine agencies which signed an Inter-Agency statement on eliminating female genital mutilation (FGM). This statement provides UNHCR’s operations with new and targeted guidance to address FGM.
In 2009, UNHCR published a Guidance Note on Refugee Claims relating to Female Genital Mutilation. The note affirms that FGM is a form of gender-based persecution and can constitute a ground for refugee status according to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The guidance is intended for use by those who may be involved in refugee status determination.
UNHCR has also updated the Guidance on the Use of Standardized Specific Needs Codes for the registration of refugee populations, which now includes specific codes on persons at risk of FGM, thus allowing field operations to identify and follow up on individual cases.
Below are some examples of UNHCR’s activities in 2008/09 in to combat FGM:
Ethiopia
In Eastern Ethiopia, UNHCR is in partnership with a community-based NGO, Mother and Child Development Organization (MCDO), to raise awareness on FGM. In 2008-2009, MCDO conducted weekly group discussions, referred to as “coffee ceremonies”, and mobilized youth clubs against FGM in three Somali refugee camps. They identify role models against FGM within the refugee community and provide support to those who choose not to perform FGM on their children. They train health staff on how to respond to FGM and conduct vocational skills training targeted at former FGM practitioners and groups at risk in the camps. MCDO has also established a women’s centre in Aw-bare refugee camp where women talk exclusively about their economic, social and domestic problems. Organized discussions related to FGM are held in the centre to raise awareness. In the Kebribeyah refugee camp, a workshop on FGM was conducted in August 2009 by UNHCR, the International Rescue Committee and MCDO. The workshop targeted 50 participants, amongst whom there were representatives of district authorities, FGM practitioners and spiritual leaders. The workshop included the religious aspects of FGM and used spiritual leaders to highlight that FGM is a traditional practice, not a religious one, in order to demystify some of the conceived perceptions of the practice. During the workshop, FGM practitioners underlined that they did this work due to a lack of any alternate income, and 15 boys declared that they wanted to marry a woman who has not undergone FGM.
Kenya
In Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, which hosts Somali refugees, UNHCR is raising awareness of the serious health risks of FGM through community dialogue. Inter-generational debates are held between older persons and youth to discuss the negative aspects of the culture. Support groups to fight FGM have been created, including religious leaders’ committees which support the abolition of FGM and emphasize the distinction between FGM and religion. Men Against FGM, a group of three hundred individuals, is mobilizing the refugee community, conducting peer education activities, acting as role models, and working in close cooperation with the police and agencies. There are support groups for families who have abandoned FGM, groups of former FGM practitioners, Youth Against FGM and groups for girls who have not undergone FGM. The awareness on FGM among the youth in the camp has greatly improved, through a project using sports to address FGM. This is being implemented in partnership with CARE. It has organized sports tournaments where the participants discuss FGM before and after the matches. Teachers, sports coaches and FGM survivors have been trained and the sports activities are used as a safe environment to discuss and create awareness on FGM. Radio communication has also been used to share information on the consequences of FGM. In Kakuma refugee camp, there are eleven anti-SGBV clubs targeting boys, their parents and teachers in the school, who campaign against FGM and other harmful practices.
Chad
In 2008 solar-powered radios were distributed to community points in the camps to support dissemination of messages on prevention of FGM and other types of SGBV. In 2009 a follow-up sensitization campaign against FGM was organized in the Koukou refugee camp.
Eritrea
A Women’s Association has been established with the aim of combatting SGBV and FGM.
Yemen
In 2008, workshops were conducted on SGBV, with a particular focus on FGM, for the Refugee Women Committee, Youth Club, Block Leaders and Religious leaders in Kharaz refugee camp.
Egypt
UNHCR, in partnership with Cairo Family Planning & Development Association, continues to implement awareness-raising sessions for refugee women on SGBV prevention and response, and the issue of FGM has been included in these sessions. The activity reaches around one hundred refugee women yearly. Moreover, discussions on community mechanisms to address SGBV and FGM regularly feature in UNHCR’s work with community-based refugee organizations.
Djibouti
The Men’s Association in the Ali-Addea refugee camp raises awareness among the refugee community focusing on FGM.
Other projects in partnership with UN agencies, governments and NGOs
In partnership with other UN agencies, governments and NGOs, UNHCR has also been involved in awareness raising among teachers, traditional and religious leaders and FGM practitioners, in Sudan, Liberia, Chad and Djibouti. In 2008, UNHCR joined the Donors Working Group on FGM/Cutting which supports a common approach among key governmental and intergovernmental organizations to promote the abandonment of the practice and make a major difference for girls and women worldwide.
If your field office is doing anything else to combat FGM, please let us know!
Website launched to end female genital mutilation
Posted by Nathan Solomon
September 21, 2009
A website dedicated to tracking the response of the European Union (EU) to female genital mutilation (FGM) has been launched by Amnesty International Ireland.
It will document the response of EU institutions and the Council of Europe to assess developments on preventing FGM and will feature an interactive map of Europe, which will contain information on prevalence rates and legislation on the issue in member states.
The campaign — the site for which is located at www.endfgm.eu — is committed to ensuring the EU delivers a definitive strategy to end FGM in Europe and to protect women and girls who flee their countries for fear of being mutilated.
The European Parliament estimates 500,000 girls and women living in Europe are suffering lifelong consequences of FGM.
- by Niamh Mullen | IMT News
September 21, 2009
A website dedicated to tracking the response of the European Union (EU) to female genital mutilation (FGM) has been launched by Amnesty International Ireland.
It will document the response of EU institutions and the Council of Europe to assess developments on preventing FGM and will feature an interactive map of Europe, which will contain information on prevalence rates and legislation on the issue in member states.
The campaign — the site for which is located at www.endfgm.eu — is committed to ensuring the EU delivers a definitive strategy to end FGM in Europe and to protect women and girls who flee their countries for fear of being mutilated.
The European Parliament estimates 500,000 girls and women living in Europe are suffering lifelong consequences of FGM.
- by Niamh Mullen | IMT News
Government failing 'silent asylum seekers'
By Meredith Griffiths for AM
Posted Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:05pm AEST
The Australian Immigration Department has been criticised for failing to adequately protect people facing human rights abuses in their home countries.
A young Kenyan woman who came to Australia for World Youth Day wants to stay because she claims she will be circumcised if she returns to Kenya.
She has been told she does not qualify for refugee status, but the Catholic Church has taken up her cause.
When Teresia Ndikaru Muturi arrived in Australia for World Youth Day last year, she knew she never wanted to go back to Kenya.
"Because I'm fearing my own mum for how she's forcing me to marry [an] old man, to leave school and yet I don't want to leave my school. Also I'm fearing to be circumcised," she said.
Her mother is a member of the outlawed Mungiki sect which practices female genital mutilation.
Ms Muturi says the sect believes you can only become a full woman and get married once you are circumcised.
Five years ago when Ms Muturi was 16, her mother suddenly told her that she had arranged for her marriage to an older man, and that she had already received a payment of cash, cows and goats.
"He brought cows and goats for my mum, so no way I could escape from it, I have to get married," she said.
Ms Muturi ran away and lived with her step-sister until her uncle, who is a priest, arranged for her to come to Australia.
Knocked back
Her application for asylum has been rejected and she was also unsuccessful at the Refugee Review Tribunal.
In January she was put in touch with Franciscan nun, Sister Aileen Crowe, who applied to the Minister Chris Evans to intervene. That too was knocked back.
Sister Crowe says Ms Muturi falls into a certain group she dubs the silent asylum seekers.
"There is nothing for them. Australian law up until now does not recognise them at all. The only way they can be recognised is if they go to the Minister," she said.
Sister Crowe has now made a second application to the Minister, adding new information about Ms Muturi's psychological state
But earlier this week, Immigration Department staff told her she had to buy a plane ticket to leave the country next month.
A spokesman for Chris evans says Ms Muturi will not be forced to leave the country until the new information has been thoroughly assessed.
Sister Crowe says it is a hit and miss approach.
"Four girls in this house once got permanent protection and the other three haven't and they're all from Kenya," she said.
"Four Ugandan girls suffered the same possibilities, all got protection on the first go. It's just a lottery, but people's lives are at stake in this lottery."
Sister Crowe says Chris Evans is not receiving all the information he needs to decide on cases.
The Government has introduced legislation to Parliament to establish complementary protection visas for people who are not covered by the Refugee Convention.
Sister Crowe is calling on the Minister not to send anyone away until that legislation has completed its passage through Parliament.
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