FGM

by pat c Mon Jun 11, 2007 11:12

Sierra Leone's parliament has passed a child rights bill, which bans under-age weddings but controversially dropped a clause to outlaw female circumcision.

The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Sierra Leone says girls as young as 11 are often married off to wealthy men but this is now banned until they are 18 years old.

However, the press and public were asked to leave parliament during the debate on female genital mutilation. When they were allowed back, the section on FGM had been removed.

by pat c Sat Feb 10, 2007 16:43

You will find full texts of the UNFPA documents at the links below.

Statement on the International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation

Message of Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=927

UNFPA Warns of New Trends in Female Genital Mutilation
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=929

by pat c Fri Feb 09, 2007 16:00

Heres an extract from an artcle re FGM. It illustrates how parents are now bringing children to clinics to be mutilated. Please note the comment above where Muslim theologians condemn FGM. Full text at link.

More parents are turning to medical clinics to perform genital mutilation, wrongly assuming that it spares girls physical and psychological damage, a U.N. agency warned on Monday.

The trend has been spotted in Egypt, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen, according to demographic surveys and patient reports, the U.N. Population Fund said.

by pat c Wed Dec 13, 2006 19:34

Muslim academics and scholars at a conference last month in Cairo, Egypt, said female genital cutting -- a practice sometimes referred to as female circumcision or female genital mutilation in which there is a partial or full removal of the labia, clitoris or both -- is incompatible with Islam and called for the governments of countries where the practice is common to make it a crime.

Full story at link.

by hasruddin Sun Nov 05, 2006 19:12

The real issue for Ireland is how we prevent FGM, honour-killings, forced marriages, cultural enslavement of women, and third-world attitudes to gay people and their personal rights, from being imported into this country.

As for the countries where these practices are legal or condoned - nothing we can do about that short of cutting aid and priveleges.

If we want to stop these practices arriving on our shores we first need to junk the pernicious doctrine of 'multi-culturalism. Then we need immigrants coming here to be left in no doubt that making slaves and satraps out of 'their' women will attract appropriate criminal penalties followed by prompt deportation.

The warnings are already there. Authorities in the Netherlands are investigating a scam whereby children were subjected to FGM (in the Netherlands). These children were then produced to the immigration authorities as 'evidence' that their other female children would face FGM if returned home.

How do we know this hasn't already ahppened in Ireland?

by pat c Sat Nov 04, 2006 18:59

"Your omission is something for you to worry about.Why didn't you choose to make it clear about FGM?"

there was no ommission on my part. you were the one to raise the issue of Islam and to link it with FGM.

"Who's obsessed?"

You are. You keep raising Islam even where no one has mentioned it.

"I don't believe you're stupid, though that would be the charitable assumtion.
Please, prove me wrong."

Tony, if anyone is showing stupidity or silliness it is you. You always\find time to attack those who are opposed to US, UK & Israeli Imperialism yet you never finf time to clash with those who support Bush et al on Indymedia.

You are now derailing this thread which is about the very real practice of mutilating women and girls.

Please quit it.

by Precious Yoruba Sat Nov 04, 2006 16:40

well why wasn't it pointed out that FGM is not a Christian practice? After all it is practiced by loads of Christians. The facts are that FGM predates both Christianity and Islam, it is a cultural practice. In one of the Islamic Hadiths the practice is condoned so there is a certain Islamic dimension to it.

by Tony Sat Nov 04, 2006 16:23

Pat C - there's a fucking war on - hadn't you noticed?
"Ethiopia is a majority Christian country, chances are that the family are Christian. The girls first name is Fortunate, which would suggest she might come from a Christian background. You are being very presumptive Tony."
Your omission is something for you to worry about. Who's obsessed?
Why didn't you choose to make it clear about FGM?
I don't believe you're stupid, though that would be the charitable assumtion.
Please, prove me wrong.

by A Girl Fri Nov 03, 2006 22:41

Fair play to you PatC for highlighting this disgusting practice.

The fact that girls are subject to this while in the EU, America etc shows that
in order to stamp it out, attitudes have to be changed rather than giving asylum
to everyone who claims a fear of FGM, as RAR simplistically suggest. This practice is usually carried out with the agreement of family members and is approved by the communities from where they come from for the most part.

by Non-believer Fri Nov 03, 2006 21:01

Pat C wroteShe said that her father did it.

She was only two and a half at the time. The barbarity was perpetrated five years ago and has only recently been taken to trial - hence, the state attorney not being able to avail of recent legislation concerning FGM in particular.

Gestures may play some part in eliminating this horrific practice, but, but miscarriages of justice? Two rights don't make a wrong and there's enough doubt in the example you cited, by the looks of it.

Add to the absence of substantive proof, the fact that most FGMs are carried, not only with the consent of maternal lineage, but are actually carried out by women themselves.

In getting rid of harmful conventions, misconceptions must be addressed.

by pat c Fri Nov 03, 2006 14:39

I dont supinely believe everything I read in the media but I have no particular reason for believeing the father was innocent in this case.

1. The child had been mutilated.
2. She said that her father did it.

But remember: this thread is about FGM, which does occur, not about whether or the girls father in this particular case was the one who mutilated her.

by Non-believer Fri Nov 03, 2006 14:31

Pat C, don't believe everything you read in the mainstream media so supinely.

The main evidence against Khalid Adem came from his wife and one of her relatives. He pled innocent, and has said all along that he thinks FGM is a barbaric practice.

Main point, lest there be any misunderstanding, this wouldn't be the first conviction in US courts where substantive evidence has been sorely lacking.

by pat c Fri Nov 03, 2006 13:01

Ethiopia is a majority Christian country, chances are that the family are Christian. The girls first name is Fortunate, which would suggest she might come from a Christian background. You are being very presumptive Tony.

by pat c Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:52

Get a grip. Should I also point out that arson, rape etc are not exclusively Islamic crimes. I was writing about FGM. Nowhere did I mention Islam.

You are truly obsessed.

by Tony Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:17

It would be fair and sensible to point out that female genital mutilation is NOT a specifically muslim practice. It is practised throughout Africa. As a matter of fact it is condemned by Muslim authorities.
I'm disappointed that Pat C. has failed to point out these facts when we are in a climate of demonisation of Islam.

by pat c Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:54

FGM even takes place in the US. But at least those who do it get sent to prison there. full story at link.

pat c

Father jailed for US mutilation

A man has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for the genital mutilation of his two-year-old daughter, in what is said to be first such case in the US. Khalid Adem, an Ethiopian immigrant, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children by the court in the state of Georgia.

Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in 2001.

A US women's rights group described the verdict as a victory against female genital mutilation worldwide.

by pat c Tue Nov 29, 2005 16:33

Heres a UNICEF article on FGM. Full article at link.

Millions of girls undergo female genital cutting every year
Category: Women's Health/OBGYN News
Article Date: 25 Nov 2005


An estimated three million girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East undergo genital mutilation/cutting every year, according to a UNICEF report released today.

Yet the study says that with adequate commitment and support, this millennium-long custom could be eliminated within a single generation.

by RAR Supporter Mon Nov 21, 2005 20:36

Recommend a read of this to anyone concerned..