WADIblog

Hivos and our partner WADI proudly announce the launch of the ‘Stop FGM Middle East’ campaign’s website to break the silence about female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East and to contribute to its full elimination.

Girls and women all over the Middle East face the practice of FGM, which constitutes a gross violation of their rights and is often condoned by various cultural, traditional and religious excuses. Credible data and statistics on the prevalence of FGM are essential if we are to break the silence and taboos surrounding the practice of FGM in the Middle East. Hivos and WADI started collecting evidence on FGM and reporting on activism against FGM in Middle Eastern countries in 2011. In January 2012, WADI and Hivos organised a conference on FGM in the Middle East in Beirut. It was the first of its kind. Experts and activists from Iraq, Yemen, Indonesia and Egypt took part laying the foundation of a region-wide network to fight FGM.

Read more

The difficulties have lain in raising the subject matter and giving a voice to the victims. In a traditional society like the Kurdish one, speaking of a girl or woman’s genitalia (often associated with sexual function and sexual pleasure) is not an easy task.

A more heartening result comes in the guise of German-Iraqi NGO WADI, an organisation which has been combating violence against women in Iraqi Kurdistan since 1993. In a recent study carried out by them, there appears to be evidence for a trend of general decline of FGM. According to their research, less than 50 percent of young girls are being mutilated today.

Following the organisation’s FGM-Free Communities programme, seven villages in the Kurdish region began their battles against the practice. According to WADI, not a single case of FGM has happened in these villages since. Villages who join the network and publicly commit themselves to stopping FGM receive small community projects, which they are free to choose.

WADI stresses the importance behind educating and alerting the villagers to the health and psychological risks of FGM. Midwifes also play an important role as practitioners, and they also must be convinced of the harm they are doing to the village’s girls if they are to stop. To further support women who have undergone the procedure, WADI launched an FGM Hotline project, through which FGM victims are provided with social, psychological, medical and sexual advice.

Today the Kurdistan Region is leading the fight against FGM in Iraq. This is due primarily to a handful of local women and organisations, such as WADI, which have taken the time to educate men and women on the risks of FGM.

Read more in Kurdistan Tribune

Today WADI finished a first training course for midwifes in Halabja. This is an important part of the ongoing anti-FGM campaign. These midwifes usually perform this practice and earn money with it. In these trainings they sign a document that they are going to stop performing FGM. In exchange they get a paramedic training and a certificate which enables them in future to work as recognized midwifes and first aid assistants. These trainings are a co-operation project with the Ministry of Health. Funded by the Dutch NGO HIVOS, WADI is planning to conduct many more of these courses in other regions of Iraqi-Kurdistan.

Nach Untersuchungen der Hilfsorganisation Wadi ist Genitalverstümmelung nicht nur in Afrika verbreitet und die Zahl von 140 Mio. betroffenen Frauen, die die UNO nennt zu gering. Thomas von der Osten-Sacken von Wadi spricht im Interview mit dem radio Dreyeckland außerdem über den Zusammenhang zwischen Genitalverstümmelung und ihrer Rechtfertigung durch islamische Rechtsschulen.

Download

The long road to the first « FGM-free villages » in Iraq

By Arvid Vormann

According to a large survey conducted in 2009, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is prevalent in all provinces of Kurdish Northern Iraq, except in the far northern Duhok region. More than 72% are affected, in villages and cities alike, among illiterates and, to a lesser extent, among academics. FGM is almost everywhere.

The area, heavily struck by Saddam’s genocidal poison gas attacks in the late 80s, by civil war in the 90s, and threatened by Saddam’s army and Islamic groups until 2003, is also marked by very high rates of honor killings, domestic violence, forced marriages and other gender-related crimes. Mobile health teams of the German-Iraqi relief organization Wadi first reported the existence of FGM in 2004. After the toppling of Saddam Hussein, time seemed to be ripe. The first few women started to talk about all the pain and agony caused by the physical and psychological consequences of the mutilations forced on them as little girls. Since then, democracy and freedom of the press, despite all their immense shortcomings in this autonomous region, have laid ground for a successful public campaign against FGM. “Stop FGM in Kurdistan” was a grass root initiative – something hitherto unheard of, as usually everything is controlled from above. The feedback was overwhelming. Human Rights Watch further promoted the cause.

Read more

Eine Reportage in der Welt über die Aktivitäten von WADI gegen FGM:

Das barbarische Ritual der Genitalverstümmelung bei Frauen wird in der muslimischen Welt viel öfter praktiziert als bekannt. Im Nordirak gehen Aktivisten von Dorf zu Dorf, um die Praxis zu bekämpfen.

Von Hannah Wettig

Zwölf Frauen haben sich in der Lehmhütte des Dorfvorstehers in dem kleinen kurdischen Ort Jalamord in Irakisch-Kurdistan versammelt. Die Sozialarbeiterin Rozan Kader ist aus der Stadt Sulaimaniya angereist, um in der Hütte einen Film über weibliche Genitalverstümmelung zu zeigen. Einige Frauen murren, dass man sie von der Arbeit weggeholt habe.

Der Dorfvorsteher schaut kurz herein und fragt, ob alles in Ordnung sei. Dann sieht man auf der Leinwand eine Ärztin über medizinische Folgen dieses Eingriffs reden; anhand einer Zeichnung wird die weibliche Anatomie erläutert. Einige kichern, andere drehen sich beschämt weg.

Als ein islamischer Geistlicher auftritt, muss Kader den Film unterbrechen, weil wütendes Gemurmel seine Erläuterungen übertönt. “Warum wurde uns nicht gesagt, dass es nicht Sunna ist?”, will eine ältere Frau wissen. Sunna bedeutet dem islamischen Recht folgend.

Den ganzen Artikel lesen

By Oliver M. Piecha

THE GREAT UNKNOWN

The number 140 million is currently the common official figure of women in the world that have undergone a procedure known as female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is defined by the World Health Organization as “partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons”.[1] 140 million is a very large and deplorable number, yet today we must seriously begin to consider the possibility that the number of genitally mutilated women in the world is, in fact, much higher. How so? 140 million is the estimation primarily for Africa; but growing evidence suggests that FGM is not only an “African problem” – it may well be widespread in various parts of Asia – including the Middle East. Finding out more about the real measures of the practice beyond Africa should be on the agenda of the international bodies and campaigns against FGM in 2013 and in the years to come.

In December 2012, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution that condemns all forms genital mutilation.[2] Though the resolution is not legally binding, it is an important step in support of legal bans the practice and towards a change of norms on the ground. Burkina Faso led this effort in the UN that yielded the resolution, joined by other African countries. FGM is indeed widespread in several countries of Africa including Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Mali. In 2013 and the years to come, countries of the Middle East, as well as other parts of Asia must be encouraged to join the international struggle against FGM, which may well be practiced in their midst. The first step in this struggle is to clarify where and to what extent it is widespread.

Read the whole article

Egypt’s High Constitutional Court on Sunday rejected a lawsuit challenging the illegality of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Egypt.

The lawsuit, first filed in 2008 by a number of Islamists lawyers, challenges a 2007 health ministry decision criminalising FGM and prohibiting doctors from practicing it, according to Al-Ahram’s Arabic-language news website.

Acounter-suit was later filed – by lawyers for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, labour lawyer Khaled Ali and doctors’ syndicate head Hamdy El-Sayed – against calls to legalise the controversial practise.

Read more

One of the most worrying recent developments relating to FGM is the shift towards permitting it to be performed by medical professionals in a supposedly ‘safe’ environment. We have recently been calling for urgent action in Indonesia, one of the first countries in the world to attempt to ‘legitimise’ FGM in this way. According to a 2003 study surveying girls aged 15-18 in six provinces in Indonesia, 86-100% had been subjected to some form of FGM, which commonly involved cutting into or injuring the clitoris. As Indonesian girls are usually less than six weeks old when this is carried out, they have absolutely no say in this decision, which transforms their entire future. We are also concerned about recent development in Malaysia, which could see something similar happening there. The Malay Minister for Health is keen to formalise and legitimise the ‘medicalisation’ of FGM, despite the fact that there is absolutely no benefit or necessity to do so. This ignores both UN and WHO guidelines, which recognise it as a severe form of violence and child abuse against girls.

Den ganzen Artikel lesen

In letzter Zeit sorgen gelegentlich islamische Prediger für Schlagzeilen, weil sie die Legalisierung der weiblichen Beschneidung fordern und im gleichen Atemzug die barbarische und grausame Praxis der Genitalverstümmelung verdammen. Sie behaupten, die weibliche “Beschneidung” – die sie entsprechend ihrem Religionsverständnis als Verpflichtung ansehen – sei etwas ganz Anderes, schließlich werde nur ein kleines Häutchen entfernt, und sie habe sogar viele Vorzüge, z.B. Prophylaxe gegen Entzündungen und Genitalherpes.

Auf diese Diskussion darf man sich gerade hierzulande, wo man, im Anschluss an die nicht geführte “Beschneidungsdebatte”, bereits handstreichartig die Rechte Gottes (bzw. die “Elternrechte”) über die Menschenrechte gesetzt hat, schon mal gefasst machen. Sie wird kommen, so sicher wie das Amen in der Kirche.

Übrigens sind diese Prediger keine einsamen Freaks. Das, was sie vertreten, ist keine Randmeinung. Hier einmal exemplarisch zur Illustration der von mir übersetzte erste Absatz des arabischen Wikipedia-Eintrags zu “Weibliche Beschneidung”:

Weibliche Beschneidung oder Dämpfung, auch bekannt als Sunna-Beschneidung gemäß der Shari’a, ist eine Praxis, bei der nur die Klitorisvorhaut beschnitten wird (Prepucectomy).
Diese Art der Beschneidung war von der WHO nicht verboten. In einigen Publikationen der Organisation ist das klar definiert. Vor einigen Jahren jedoch begann man, diese Art der Beschneidung Typ I der FGM-Definition zuzuordnen, mit der Begründung, diese muslimische Praxis sei nicht gesund. Dabei unterscheidet sich die Shari’a-Beschneidung bzw. Dämpfung vollständig von der pharaonischen Beschneidung. Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung bzw. pharaonische Beschneidung wird in vier Typen unterteilt und geht mit der teilweisen oder vollständigen Amputation der Genitalien aus kulturellen, religiösen oder anderen Gründen einher. Die Vereinten Nationen haben den 6. Februar zum Internationalen Tag gegen Genitalverstümmelung erklärt.

Immerhin ein erster Erfolg der jüngsten Entscheidung der UN-Generalversammlung FGM in allen Formen zu verurteilen:

As the United Nations has adopted a resolution urging member states to ban female genital mutilation, the government has been told it has no choice but to revoke a Health Ministry regulation issued in 2010 that condones female circumcision.

National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) deputy chairwoman Masruchah said that the 2010 ministerial regulation runs counter to the UN resolution because it legalizes a practice that is harmful to the sexual and reproductive health of women. (…)

The 2010 Health Ministry regulation stipulates that female circumcision is allowed as long as it is performed by licensed doctors, nurses or midwives

CPT-Iraq wrote a portrait of Shanga Rahim from WOLA, a cles partner organisation ofd WADI in Iraqi-Kurdistan

I asked Shanga, what was the most difficult part about her work and what caused sadness as she struggled with these issues? “I am still sad about Female Genital Mutilation. I am working to stop this mutilation because it is very bad for girls. It affects all aspects of their life…their marriage, their sexual experience with their husband and, during childbirth”, she said.

When asked, what was the most frustrating part of this work, she said, “I get so upset when women tell me that their husband will teach them how to behave. Women need to know their own rights and act on them. The FGM work is also still very challenging. Many people think that our Islamic faith requires FGM; therefore, they don’t consider it a bad thing for their children and our future. I wish people had more information about FGM, as this is difficult for us when we are working and speaking with mothers”.

I asked Shanga to say a little bit about some of the successes that she sees in this work.
“I am happy to say that at the present time, in Kurdistan, domestic violence is lower, that surely is a success. Also, more and more people know about FGM and its harm to women. In fact, a law has been passed. The law states that mutilation must be stopped. Therefore, fewer women are being mutilated than years ago”. She smiled, saying that she was already seeing some changes.

Read more

In Malaysia up to 90% of women and girls are victim of Female Genital Mutilation. It seems now the Government ist trying to legalize this practice, because it is seen as a Islamic religious obligation. (Just for the record: Any UN agency would have told you just a couple of years ago that FGM is an African phenomen and not related to religion at all):

According to the results of a university survey the practice is widespread, with more than 90 per cent of Malay Muslim female respondents reporting they have been circumcised.

Azrul Mohamad Khalib told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia: “It certainly is a surprising figure, really. The study involves more than 1,000 female respondents and when we look at it, around 90 per cent or so are Malay Muslims.” (…)

He said that to have anecdotal evidence “captured” in the study is really “both surprising and a little bit disappointing”.

What about the suggestion that the health ministry may be about to register the practice?

(weiterlesen…)

In 2004, when WADI started the campaign against FGM in Iraqi-Kurdistan, no one in the KRG Government was ready to even admit that this practice exists. In contrary for years they all denied it and it was a hard struggle to get the message through. And now, eight years later, the Prime Minister adresses it on a conference:

,,I call on mothers and sisters to help stop the mutilation of women.” That was the very modest way Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani referred to FGM, or female genital mutilation, at the opening of the Campaign to Eliminate Violence against Women, on November 25 in Erbil.

United Nations Member States have approved the first-ever draft resolution aimed at ending the harmful practice of female genital mutilation, in a move hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a major step forward in protecting millions of women and girls.

The text was approved by consensus on Monday by the General Assembly’s so-called Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, and will be acted on by the Assembly next month.

Quelle

Ines Laufer von der TaskForceFGM schreibt

Mohamed Kandeel, Professor für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe an der Universität in Menofiya, Ägypten und Mitglied der Genfer Stiftung für Medizinische Ausbildung und Forschung (…) veröffentlichte aktuell einen Artikel mit dem Titel “Female genital cutting is a harmful practice. Where is the evidence?”. Darin behauptet er, Genitalverstümmelung habe keine negativen Folgen für die Opfer:

“There is insufficient evidence to support the claims that genital cutting is a harmful procedure…We should ask ourselves what would be the percentages of these complications if FGC was performed in a well-equipped theatre by experienced personnel. They would probably not be different to any other surgical procedure…This may have overestimated the rate of complications in women with FGC who attended hospitals to deliver…” usw. usf.

Den ganzen Artikel lesen

Siehe auch dazu auch meinen Beitrag in der Jungle World

Religiöse Beschneidungen? Wenn’s in dem Tempo weitergeht, ist FGM in einem Jahr in Deutschland, wird’s nur religiös begründet, legalisiert:

 ”Die Länderkammer „unterstützt die Regierung in ihrem Bemühen, Rechtssicherheit im Zusammenhang mit religiösen Beschneidungen zu schaffen“, teilte der Bundesrat am Freitag nach seiner Sitzung mit.” 

A village dedicated to stopping female genital mutilation received an electric generator

On this bright October day, a hope was fulfilled for the inhabitants of Gewzsa, a poor village north of Raniya, with houses clinge to the rocky, parched hillsides. A midsize truck carrying a new electric generator rolled in. The village is part of the FGM-free village programme, run by Wadi. The participating villages take part in community developement projects, while they publicly commit themselves to abandon the harmful but deeply rooted practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The people of Gewzsa are committed to the cause. In this traditional and conservative village, a remarkable change is unfolding. In Raniya area FGM is a widespread practice. Traditionally, almost 100% of the women were mutilated. Recently, Gewzsa women participated in Wadi’s awareness program and, having learned about the negative consequences of FGM, men and women of the village are now convinced that FGM should be abandoned. Together with a couple of other villages, they joined Wadi’s Free FGM Village programme in 2011.

People decided they would like to have permanent electricity. Until now the village has only had a few hours electricity per day delivered through the national electricity grid. With the electric generator, Gewzsa will have almost 24 hour electricity, enabling things like permanent cooling of the fridge that are taken for granted in the city, but hardly available in the remoter rural areas. Now even a deep-freezer can be installed! Fuel and wires will be provided by the Kurdish government.

Read more 

Goran Zangana, a medical doctor from Kurdiestan currently studying in Edinburgh, takes a pragmatic approach. He speaks passionately about how far Iraq has come, and how far it has to go. “Representative democracy is never perfect of course, but it’s better than a dictatorship,” he says. “That has to be true. In Iraq chronic nepotism still exists, with family members and relatives sometimes dominating ‘elected’ bodies. And despotism still exists. These are mind-sets that will not disappear overnight. The move towards an effective and participatory democracy is an evolutionary process, and we are still a long way from this yet.

“Before 2003 we had no political parties, just one party, one leader, and no chance to vote for any other. The information that we received about our society was limited. Our media, our economy was dominated by one family. When the United States and United Kingdom removed the dictator, a society that had been homogenised for 30 years erupted with all the pent-up frustrations that had been suppressed for so long. We are learning now how to work with this new atmosphere.”

Goran is a Kurd from northern Iraq, a minority population of 20 per cent in an Arab dominated society. As he works to complete a PhD in international public health policy in Scotland, he longs to return to his country and address some of its many problems. Committed to compassionate service to his people, he campaigns actively against some of the recently revealed ‘social disorders’ such as local despotism, polygamy, sexual violence, Female Genital Mutilation, corruption and access to health care, serious, endemic problems, some of which many in Iraq had never been previously aware.

Read more