Genital mutilation and German law

Half a million women and girls in Europe suffer from the consequences of Female Genital Mutilation. Unlike France, Germany does not specifically outlaw FGM in its penal code. Activitsts are working for change.

Jawahir Cumar comes from Somalia. Like many young Somali women, she was circumcised as a child.  She wanted to ensure that other girls were spared this painful experience so she founded her own society "Stop Mutilation – Stop Female Genital Mutilation" in Düsseldorf in 1996.

Many young women and girls, who suffer from medical complications caused by what is euphemistically referred to as female circumcision, are often too terrified to go and see a doctor. Cultural taboos are often the reason for this.

Those who do venture as far as the doctor's surgery can end up paying for treatment themselves. Cumar said German health insurers often refuse to reimburse victims for the costs of a hospital operation. "These women were mutilated at the age of three or four," she explained. "At the age of 35, they want to have their genitals reopened and have to listen to the same question over and over again: 'Why do you want this done. They were always that way, where's the problem?' Many think it's just cosmetic surgery, but the reverse is true, this is a very important operation."

There are various forms of female circumcision in which the genitals are partly or completely removed. The entrance to the vagina is constricted by sewing it up. The operation is often performed with dirty instruments and without an anesthetic. Medical complications include infections, a lifetime of pain, and cysts.

As well as the women here in Germany who were subjected to this painful ritual in their youth,  there are also thousands of young girls in the country who are at risk and could be forced to undergo female genital mutilation at a later date.

German parliament discussing tougher legislation

For many African parents, circumcision belongs to the traditions of their home country which they continue to follow long after they have emigrated. Either they have the operation performed illegally here in Germany, or back home.  Dirk Wüstenberg is a German lawyer. He said that if these children are be protected effectively from harm, both in Germany and elsewhere, then German law needs to be clarified and toughened.

"The penalty handed down by the courts at the moment is the same as it was decades ago, it's never more than 10 years in prison," he explained. "It's regarded as grievous bodily harm and normally carries a penalty of three to four years for first time offenders, for the parents, that is. Those who perform the operation can expect about eight years."

Wüstenberg says the German parliament is currently discussing stiffer penalties. Across the border in France, parents who expose their daughters to genital mutilation can be sent to prison for between 10 and 30 years.

Following France's example

Nama Camara is a social worker who comes from Mali. She lives in France, where, she said, the topic has been on the agenda for some time.

"It took time for France to understand what was happening and for us to arrive at our present position. If Germany and the Netherlands were to draw on our experiences, they could move ahead more quickly," she added.

In Germany, doctors are bound by rules of patient confidentiality which prevent them from contacting prosecutors or the police. Dr Christop Zerm is a gynaecologist who counsels women seeking assistance from the "Stop Mutilation" society.

"If I hear of a crime of this sort which is about to be committed, I try to find ways of stopping it from happening," he said.

This doesn't necessarily mean reporting the matter to the local police. Youth welfare and health authorities can exert influence on the parents in time so that the child is protected.                 

Camara told the Düsseldorf meeting that the rate of female genital mutilation is decreasing, not only in France, but in her home country, Mali, and in West Africa generally, as well.

In Germany, a draft law for the protection of girls could act as a deterrent, if enacted. It would enable medical professionals to report suspicious cases to the police. Until that legislation makes it to the statute book, the women from "Stop Mutilation" will continue to try and raise public awareness until the ancient ritual of genital mutilation is finally eradicated. The discussions in Düsseldorf are going to be condensed into guidelines for teachers in Germany's schools. It will be a small step forward.           

Author: Abebe Lidet

Editor: Mark Caldwell


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FGM/C Legislation In South Africa

Female Genital Mutilation In South Africa

Posted: 7 June, 2012 Author: AfricLaw 

Author: Barbara Kitui
LLM (Human Rights & Democartisation in Africa)  student, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the cultural practises embedded amongst the Venda community of north-east of South Africa. Eight weeks or less after childbirth, Venda women undergo a traditional ceremony calledmuthuso. Muthuso is a process of cutting the vaginal flesh of the mother by a traditional healer. The flesh is mixed with black powder and oil and applied on the child’s head to prevent goni. Goni has been described as a swelling on the back of a child’s head. The Venda people believe that goni can only be cured using the vaginal flesh of the child’s mother. Women who experienced FGM stated that they bleed excessively after the ceremony. Moreover, the women stated that there is no postnatal care in Venda. Consequently, the women use traditional medicine and sometimes this leads to death because of substandard treatment.

Vendas also practises FGM as initiation for girls into womanhood. The girls reside in a ‘nonyana’ hut for 24 hours until an appointed day when an old woman performs the clitoris cutting by the river banks.  The girls are branded with a mark on their thighs as evidence of having attended initiation.

Migrants in South Africa including Sudanese and other African communities continue practising FGM. The families invite women into their homes who clandestinely circumcise often despite pleas from the girls. Herbs are applied to the cut places to quicken the healing. The girls are often traumatised following the practise.

The World Health Organisation does not list South Africa as a country where FGM is practised. In 2005 during the deliberation of the Children Bill, the South African Girl Child Alliance (SAGCA) presented a report highlighting the non-existence of FGM to South African parliamentarians on the Social Service Select Committee. The SAGCA report indicated that during the initiation ceremonies for women, there was no FGM being practised.

Article 5(a) of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women obligates state parties to ensure that all cultural practises that violate the rights of women are eliminated.

Regionally, the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child on the Rights of Women in Africa imposes a duty on state parties under articles 8(f) and 2 to institute measures that prohibit all forms of harmful practises. Article 5 obliges governments to engage in public awareness against FGM, to enact legislation prohibiting FGM and to provide victim support for women affected by the effects of FGM.

Sections 30 and 31 of the 1996 South African Constitution provide for the right to culture which must be done in compliance with the Bill of Rights. Section 211 of the Constitution recognises the existence of cultural institutions which must comply with the Constitution.

South Africa enacted subsidiary legislation to address FGM. The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Equality Act) outlaws discrimination of any person on grounds of gender and culture, including FGM. Under section 12(2) (a), the Children’s Act explicitly prohibits genital mutilation or circumcision of female children as opposed section 8(b) Equality Act which only prohibits discrimination based on FGM.

The South African government has engaged in initiatives to curb FGM, for example national research and sensitization workshops where FGM is prevalent in liaison with government departments of health, culture and education. There is no acknowledgment by the government that FGM exists in South Africa. Most information obtained on FGM in South Africa is based on research by individuals or international organisations.

Culture is an aspect of African traditions that cannot be easily dispensed with. Despite the fact that international treatises deem FGM as an immense violation of human rights to females, those who practise FGM perceive it as a rite of passage and an avenue for children to receive protection from their mothers while eight weeks after birth.

In order to curb FGM, there is need for government to continue partnering with civil societies to sensitize communities and encourage them to reflect on the implication of FGM and make a conscious decision to end the practise.

About the Author:
Kitui Barbara is currently a postgraduate student pursuing the LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa at the University of Pretoria. As part of the LLM, Kitui undertook a field research in Venda, South Africa, under the topic ‘Hindrances to the fulfillment of the right to maternal healthcare in Venda.’ Other sources used for this research can be found here. Kitui worked as a Legal Officer with the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative in Uganda before joining the LLM programme.

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Law alone won’t end female circumcision

September 23, 2011
Daily Nation
Felista Wangari


Growing up in Narok the 1980s, Shinina Shani knew that every girl underwent the cut.

It was the rite that transformed girls into women, and which every proud Maasai girl went through.

However, Ms Shani’s Christian parents refused to give in when she begged them to allow her to be circumcised in order to fit in with her peers.

She got used to being referred to as Entito, a term which means girl, but when used to refer to an uncut woman is insulting.

Her father, too, had to bear contempt for allowing his daughter to escape the cut.

Even in the backdrop of the recently-passed law that prohibits female genital mutilation, not much has changed as cases of female circumcision in Narok South remain high.

Ms Shani, who now works as a crusader against the rite in the area, puts the female circumcision prevalence at over 90 per cent.

“The few girls who choose to avoid it are shunned and referred to as cowards and fake Maasais. They believe it is a bad omen to remain uncut and have children,” she explains.

Such beliefs keep a practice that was banned by presidential decree four times — the first time being in 1982 — alive.

Loopholes

Moreover, laws such as the Children’s Act, the Sexual Violence Act and the Domestic Violence Act, which aim to protect girls and women against harmful cultural practices, have had little, if any, effect on the custom.

However, Mount Elgon MP Fred Kapondi, when moving the motion, said that the existing laws had loopholes that allowed the practice to continue.

It is those loopholes that the Bill seeks to seal and top female circumcision.

Ms Shani applauds the law as timely.

Pre-teen and teenage girls in communities where it is still practised are getting ready for the peak circumcision season, which occurs during school holidays in December.


However, she is wary of the enforcement of the law, which will be key in stamping out the entrenched custom.

“Many laws have been enacted that could be used to protect women, but their people remain ignorant about them. Even some of the law enforcers are ignorant about the legislation that hinders implementation.”

“The government must make sure that information about this law reaches the communities concerned and that the law enforcers are also aware of the law and implement it. Otherwise, it will be just another law without results,” she explains.

Once it becomes fully operational, the law will protect women who have not undergone the cut from people who drive them to the cut with insults and discrimination.

A quarter of circumcised women surveyed in 2008/9 mentioned social acceptance as one reason they do it.

Under the new law, knowing that a woman is being circumcised and keeping quiet about it could land you in jail.

Other offences under the law include performing the cut, using one’s premises for the rite, aiding and abetting the performance of the cut, possession of tools to practice female circumcision, and taking a Kenyan to be circumcised outside the country.



Unlike the previous laws, which protected girls and women from general harmful cultural practices, the new law specifically targets female circumcision, defines it, and outlines the offences and penalties.

One found guilty of a crime under this law will be fined a minimum of Sh300,000 and a maximum of Sh500,000 while a jail term will last from three years to a maximum of seven years.

While praising the law as a harsh deterrent if implemented to the letter, campaigners maintain that such a deeply-rooted tradition cannot be stopped using the law alone.

They argue that the first approach should be to create awareness and persuade communities to abandon the unnecessary, risky and illegal cultural practice.

“We prefer a non-confrontational approach so as not to strain the girls’ relationship with their community, and it usually works. However, if dialogue fails, then the law can come in to protect the girl,” says Grace Senewa, a World Vision a project coordinator in Narok.

In a statement after the law was enacted on September 7, First Lady Lucy Kibaki, while calling on law enforcers to implement it strictly once it became fully operational, noted that legal bans alone could not change customs and cautioned that the law could drive the practice underground.

The campaigns against female circumcision preferred by some non-governmental organisations appear to have borne some fruit.

Data from the 2008/9 KDHS shows there has been a decline in the national prevalence from 38 per cent in 1998 and 32 per cent in 2003, to 27 per cent in 2008. This decline rises with the education level of the women involved.


Girls who have at least a secondary school education are less likely to be circumcised (19 per cent), as compared to women with no education, of whom 54 per cent have undergone the cut.

Among the Somalis, where 98 per cent of women report having had infibulation — the most severe form of the cut — female circumcision is seen as a religious requirement and most of the women believe it should continue.

Circumcision is also prevalent among the Kisii and the Maasai with a prevalence of 96 per cent and 73 per cent respectively.

Campaigns against female circumcision show that the trend has been to cut the girls when they are younger as almost half of the girls between 15 and 19 years were circumcised before they turned 10 years.

Grace Senewa, says that a campaign to promote an alternative rite of passage that does not involve circumcision has attracted more girls in Narok North over the years.

Girls who opt for the alternative rite of passage are taught the harmful effects of circumcision and persuaded to reject it.

One such rite was held last week at Olesito Primary School in Narok North, where 400 girls aged between 10 and 15 years graduated.

This was an increase from 70 girls who took part in the initial ceremony five years ago.

The ceremony was used to educate the people about the dangers and the new stringent legal implications of female circumcision.

Ms Senewa says that unfortunately, some girls who escape the cut are forcibly circumcised during childbirth.

“For such cases we are grateful that women can use the law to seek protection and justice,” she says.

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KENYA: Limited success for campaigns targeting FGM/C practitioners

August 1, 2011
IRIN Africa


August is when Nchoo Ngochila would normally be gearing up for the traditional female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) season in her Ilchamus community in Kenya's Rift Valley Province.

"I would introduce myself and market my skills to the parents, I would convince them to hire me when the mutilating season came," she told IRIN. "In a day I would cut an average of 10 girls in a village, and would operate in two villages each day."

Ngochila, once a well-respected FGM/C practitioner, charged about US$22 per girl, a healthy income by the standards of the minority Ilchamus community, which comprises just 40,000 people mainly dependent on subsistence agriculture and fishing in Lake Baringo.

"At heart, I felt the pain of watching girls weep as I cut them, but I needed money to pay school fees for my sons," she added.

This year, however, Ngochila will spend her time trying to convince her community the practice should be abandoned. About a year ago, a campaign by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) urged FGM/C practitioners in the area to put down their razors and campaign for women's rights in their communities.

"I was invited for training in our village, they talked about the suffering a girl [experiences] while undergoing FGM, and the way the practice denied women their rights," she said. "I felt so guilty that I cancelled all the bookings I had for August last year; instead I went to the same parents and tried to convince them against FGM."

A hard sell

Of the 30 bookings she had already made in 2010, just two changed their minds about having their daughters cut.

Ngochila found herself on the wrong side of elders and other members of the Ilchamus community; when she tried to convince other practitioners to give up the trade, they accused her of trying to ruin their business.

Local officials estimate that more than 50 percent of Ilchamus girls and women have undergone FGM/C.

The campaign to dissuade traditional practitioners from cutting girls continues, and local women's leader Winnie Mengiri says 15 practitioners from Marighat Division and 20 from Mukutani Division - where many Ilchamus people live - claimed to have been reformed because of various campaigns.

Today, Nodasimi Parteneu, a friend of Ngochila's, struggles to make ends meet, but is determined not to return to performing FGM/C for money.

"At first I thought it was good that Nchoo had abandoned the practice - she was my main competitor - but I later reasoned her way and put down my razor," she said. "Sometimes I get nightmares as I recall how a girl died after she bled following FGM which I had done, but I know God will give me grace to forget those memories."

Alternative incomes

But Mengiri says the high income of the practitioners often means their positions within the community do not stay vacant for long.

"Younger women are now mutilating girls secretly; some people here are yet to embrace the new anti-FGM culture," she said.

Younger women are now mutilating girls secretly; some people here are yet to embrace the new anti-FGM cultureGender and children affairs permanent secretary James Nyikal, who recently officiated at the signing of a declaration to abandon FGM/C by Ilchamus practitioners, elders and community members, said the government intended to provide alternative sources of income to women who wished to leave the profession to discourage them from returning to it.

Ngochila now makes mandazi (pastry), which she sells in schools around her village. Her income has dropped significantly, and she now survives on just $1.10 per day; she is hoping to benefit from the government's women’s entrepreneur fund to expand her business.

Involving men

According to UNFPA gender programme officer Florence Gachanja, a campaign targeting Ilchamus elders to fight FGM/C has borne fruit, leading to the community's endorsement of the anti-FGM declaration.

"Elders are the gate-keepers of culture, if they order that a certain traditional practice should be abandoned, [the community follows]," she said.

UNFPA will also be including Ilchamus “moran”, young men, many of whom refuse to marry uncut women. "We will be having a campaign to... convince them [that] women are the same, cut or not cut," Gachanja added.

The Ilchamus practise a form of FGM/C known as clitoridectomy, the removal of all or part of the clitoris. An estimated 32 percent of women in the Rift Valley Province have undergone the procedure, according to the 2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.

Education, law

Area chief Francis Ole Kaprich says the education of Ilchamus girls will likely have the greatest impact on reducing the prevalence of the practice.

"I am sure this will play a big role in reducing FGM, but there is a need for more campaigns, sensitization and [vigilance] by law keepers if the Ilchamus [are to] abandon FGM completely," he said.

Although criminalizing FGM/C does not seem to have had much impact on the practice, Ole Kaprich said he would be enforcing the law in his own community.

"I know the majority will be doing it in secret, but I will make sure those caught will face the wrath of the law," he said. "We are also sensitizing girls... soon, mutilators will have no one to cut."

Britain continues FGM crackdown

July 25, 2011
Bikyamasr
Johnathan Terry


Amira Yussif is a 16-year-old Sudanese-British teenager. She is typically British in every aspect. She wears trendy jeans, a mini-skirt with tights in the winter, and loves to dance when she has the chance. But for her, her life changed two years ago when her family attempted to force her to return home to be “circumcised.”

“It was horrible,” the young teenager began at a friend’s house where she has been staying for the past two years after running away from her family. “They said it was to protect my honor and dignity until I was married. I tried to explain to them that I am a good girl and that this is not what I wanted.”

When her family purchased plane tickets to Khartoum, Yussif made a move, backing one bag and leaving for school one morning, not to return. Since then, she has lived with a family friend in a London suburb, maintaining her school work and continuing to push on with life.

“It is hard, but I was not going to go through that procedure because I don’t believe it is right in today’s world, whether we are here in Britain or in Sudan,” she told Bikyamasr.com.

She is one of the “lucky” ones who escaped the procedure. With more reports being published of young girls being forced to return home to have what most in the human rights community refer to as female genital mutilation – the cutting of a woman’s genitalia – the British government is pushing back.

Prosecutors across the country have been sent new guidelines to assist in the prosecution of those who try to have their children undergo the procedure.

The Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003 allows for the prosecution of British citizens who breach the provisions of the act and perform the procedure abroad, often in Africa or the Middle East. While the law appears strict on paper, it appears to have limited practical effect, the a recent report in The Guardian stated.

The British government has investigated more than 100 claims of genital mutilation over the past two years, but there were no convictions. In comparison, French authorities have successfully prosecuted 100 cases.

The practice is “barbaric,” said Jane Ellison, a Tory member of Parliament, who wants the issue taken more seriously.

Ellison called the procedure “a brutal crime perpetrated against those who are least able to protect themselves: little girls and young women.”

“In every case, the health of the girl or woman is damaged, often irreparably,” Ellison said. “What is most shocking of all is that a great many of these criminal acts are perpetrated against girls aged 10 and under, right down to infants.”

Yussif continues to tell the story of a number of friends who have been forced to undergo the procedure and says that she hopes that people do not see it as a religious idea, instead that FGM is believed to be a practice that “guarantees a girl’s honor as she grows up.”

It is “not Islamic, but a cultural practice that through education our societies can hopefully end. It is horrible to think how many people in today’s world have had it done. I love Sudan and my people and this needs to stop,” she added.

KENYA: Lawyers ask Men to Fight Against Female Genital Mutilation

March 10, 2011
Women News Network
Kenya Correspondent, Gitonga Njeru

Pokot District, Kenya: Human rights lawyers are asking Kenyan men to be a stronger part of the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM), which despite being illegal in Kenya, is still widely practiced by some communities.

One of the communities that has not yet abandoned FGM is Kenya’s Pokot community. Unfortunately in the district, many men in the region, and throughout Africa, still encourage circumcisers to continue the practice.

Most Pokot men place value and usually demand that a woman must be circumcised in order to marry, but there are some growing exceptions to this rule.

“I was circumcised as a little girl and I managed to get a husband,” says Selina Lorupe, a 43 year old mother of 2 children. “Many women in my Pokot community continue to be circumcised. It is part of our culture but other women are slowly resisting this move,” she highlights.

Numbers from The Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization, a group that fights for the rights of women in Africa, estimate that 500 young Pokot girls and women were circumcised, in only one month, last December 2009, alone.

Despite FGM being rampant among the Pokot, advocacy groups are working hard to educate local women about the health dangers associated with the practice. But society pressures sometimes outweigh education. Advocates have noticed some improvements through their campaigns, but improvements over the past years have been backsliding.

More Pokot men are now marrying women outside their communities, from places such as the Kikuyu, Meru, and Kuria, where the practice of FGM – female genital mutilation – remains intact.
Kenyan human right lawyers suggest this undermines the fight to discourage FGM, making it even more difficult to eradicate...

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Egypt Struggles with Female Genital Mutilation

November 19, 2010
Bikyamasr
Joseph Mayton

CAIRO: In June 2007, 12-year-old Badour Shakour died as a result of a circumcision operation. The death sparked a battle within the country over the use of the controversial medical procedure. Her death galvanized women and children’s rights groups to action, where they pushed for more stringent penalties against those who carry out female genital mutilation (FGM).

Shakour’s cause of death was an overdose of anesthetic, but her memory was the cause of an awakening that reached to the upper echelons of government.

In the summer of 2008, Egypt’s Parliament passed a law that ostensibly bans the controversial procedure. Not that it should have needed to legislate against FGM – it was already officially banned in the country during the mid-nineties – but with doctors continuing to perform the procedure on girls as young as five, Parliament felt it was necessary to intercede.

The new law stipulates a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($185) to 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($900) and a prison term of anywhere between three months and two years if caught performing FGM.

A doctor also could lose their medical license. In the case of Shakour, the doctor who performed the procedure languishes in prison after being convicted of manslaughter.

But, the rising number of deaths and injuries that have resulted from FGM, including a young girl who was left struggling for her life in November after the procedure, many Egyptians are fighting against the ban.

A 2005 report by UNICEF contended that 97 percent of single Egyptian women between 15 and 49 have undergone some form of FGM, although other estimates put the number at 70 percent.

Member of Parliament Mohamed Al Omda of a small opposition party, brought his three daughters to the floor of the People’s Assembly in protest of the ban last year. One of his daughters carried a sign that read: “No to any attempt to forbid what is divinely allowed. No to any attempt to allow what is divinely forbidden.” Two of his three daughters are circumcised.

Many conservative Muslims in the country maintain that the practice is condoned in Islam. The country’s Muslim Brotherhood has come under fire over many of their members’ denouncements of Parliament’s bill. The powerful Islamic group, and many Islamic scholars, argues that the ban is akin to “imposing Western ideals” on Egyptian society, which they maintain is based in Sharia.

“Religion does not prohibit or criminalize female circumcision,” prominent Islamic scholar Mustafa Al Shaka said to the local press shortly after the bill was passed.

The Brotherhood said that they are currently reviewing FGM in terms of its legitimacy within Islam and did not want to comment. Despite this assertion, last summer, their MP’s – who won one-fifth of the People’s Assembly as independents – were the most ardent opponents of the bill.

Progressive Islamic scholar Gamal Al Banna – brother of late Brotherhood founder Hassan Al Banna – says there is simply no precedent in Islam for this kind of practice. He argues that it was imported into society as a means of forcing women into the background of everyday life.

“It didn’t exist in Islamic history and those who argue it is Islamic or part of the Sharia are wrong,” the 87-year-old argued. “Religion does not subscribe to this kind of treatment that can cause death and other horrible results. It is un-Islamic.”

Al Azhar, the Sunni Islamic world’s most notorious religious authority, agrees with the elder Al Banna. In 2007, the Council of Islamic Research issued a statement saying that FGM and cutting are “harmful, have no basis in core Islamic law and should not be practiced.”

But Egyptian society remains stratified into opposing camps over the issue, says the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood Sectretary General Moushira Khattab. She believes that although the ban will remain permanent that it will take time to educate the population over the long term effects of cutting a woman’s clitoris.

“Nobody is going to say no to something that has negative effects caused by the procedure and in time Egyptians will see this,” she begins, “so the punishments that are being handed out against those who conduct this practice is vitally necessary.”

UNICEF estimated that three million girls in Africa undergo FGM annually, including in Egypt. The practice is a violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989.

Although the Egyptian government has banned the procedure, it remains common, especially among the rural communities outside the capital Cairo and Alexandria. A 2005 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, the majority of FGM procedures have been performed by trained medical personnel.

Medical workers involvement in the procedure, human rights groups and doctors in the country, argue is a major reason the procedure continues.

“We have to work slowly and cannot expect everything to change in one law. Egyptians are stubborn and if they believe this is part of their religion, then it is very difficult to convince them otherwise, even if they are trained doctors,” said a female doctor at the country’s Doctor’s Syndicate. She asked not to be named, as the controversy continues inside its doors.

With children in danger, the doctor argues that Egyptians must move forward in order to limit these sorts of practices.

“We are struggling as a country and until everyone is being educated, it is so difficult to achieve progress on anything, let alone FGM.”

Like so many controversial issues facing Egypt today, the seemingly endless battle between secularism and Islam continue to put opposing sides on the defensive. Al Banna believes that issues such as FGM will not be resolved within society until there is an open space for debate on all things, including religion.

“We need to be able to debate religion freely or else we will not be able to have people making their own decisions, instead they will follow their local sheikh as if he were the only source for reason.”