|
Iraqi Kurdistan Confronts Female Genital
Mutilation
7.12.2010
By Irfan Al-Alawi |
|
|
|
December 7, 2010
As reported to the Centre for
Islamic Pluralism
by the non-governmental organization
Stop FGM in
Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
in northern Iraq, on 25 November, officially
admitted the wide prevalence in the territory of
female genital mutilation (FGM) [female
circumcision]. Recognition by the KRG of the
frequency of this repellent custom among Kurds came
during a conference program commemorating the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence
Against Women.
Kurdish infliction of FGM distinguishes the local
culture from most Muslim societies. FGM is most
common in Black Africa, Egypt,
southern Saudi Arabia,
and among African, Arab, and Kurdish immigrants in
Europe. It is also known in such pre-modern,
isolated societies as that of the Embera, an
indigenous community in Colombia, according to the
International Federation
of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
FGM has no basis in the foundational texts of Islam
but has been legitimised by clerics such as the
notoriously retrograde Yusuf Al-Qaradawi,
Egyptian-born and based in Qatar.
|
Iraqi Kurdistan Gov't says 41 percent of Kurdish
women are circumcised. |
Al-Qaradawi has
admitted that the supposed justification for FGM is
based on unreliable reports of hadith, the oral
commentaries of Muhammad. While Al-Qaradawi declared
that FGM is not required in Islam, he supported it
if a girl's parents wished it be done. FGM is
typically carried out by midwives using unsterilized
razors, and also may involve knives, scissors,
broken glass, or pieces of tin. Girls who have
suffered FGM may then have their vaginal openings
sewn shut. Among Africans living in the Saudi
kingdom, it is reported that genital "reopening" is
necessary at childbirth and that further genital
mutilations may be repeated.
In documenting the procedure and effects of FGM,
Stop FGM, a program in Kurdistan, points out that
girls are seldom aware what will happen to them when
they are taken by their mothers to be cut . FGM is
inflicted on Kurdish girls, aged from 4 to 12. After
they are cut, ashes may be applied to the injury to
prevent bleeding, or the girls may be forced to sit
in cold water; girls may die as a consequence of the
"operation." FGM may produce genital cysts, tumours,
urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and other
medical and psychological problems . Like so-called
"honor" murders, FGM is allegedly intended to
suppress sexual desire in women. In the words of
Stop FGM, "It is a crime, not a culture." We would
add, neither is it an action based in religion: FGM
is not found among Kurdish adherents of Shia Islam.
On November 25, Kurdish regional officials, in the
presence of foreign diplomats, acknowledged the
challenges of FGM and so-called "honor" murders
among Kurds, and announced a 16-day campaign to
promote consciousness of women's rights. The Kurdish
authorities have also commissioned studies by two
British universities of so-called "honor" murders.
Stop FGM has praised the Kurdish government for
assuming a public stance against these appalling
examples of violence against women. On the
International Day for the Elimination of Violence
Against Women last year, WADI (the Association for
Crisis Assistance and Development Co-operation), a
German NGO, published an alarming
survey showing that
among elderly Kurdish women,www.ekurd.netthe
rate of FGM stood at 100%, demonstrating that in the
past the procedure was universal. The same document
disclosed that in three governing districts of the
KRG, women in Erbil had suffered FGM at an average
rate of 63%, those in Sulaimaniyah 78%, and female
residents of Garmyan/New Kirkuk 81.2%.
Earlier this year, the Kurdistan High Religious
Commission (KHRC) issued a fatwa, after the argument
of Al-Qaradawi which stated that FGM is not
obligatory in Islam, but may be performed on girls
according to their parents' wishes. WADI strongly
criticised the
fatwa, predicting that it would encourage an
increase in the abusive practice. WADI further noted
that other human rights monitors praised the fatwa
as "positive, but not definitive" because it denied
the Islamic basis of FGM but did not prohibit it.
At the end of October 2010, the Kurdish Health
Ministry announced a plan to outlaw FGM and to call
on the KHRC Fatwa Committee to unequivocally forbid
the practice.
Nevertheless, repudiation of FGM as an Islamic
procedure means little without consequential
measures to prevent its continued outrage against
girls. In 2007, the Kurdistan Justice Ministry
decreed that women performing FGM should be
arrested, tried, and punished by local police, but
the regulation has not been noticeably enforced.
Again in 2008 and 2009, Kurdistan authorities
introduced anti-FGM legislation and promised public
education to abate the practice, but nothing visible
has yet been done to end it.
FGM is banned in many countries, including in
Africa, where local authorities fail to enforce the
law. FGM and so-called "honour" murders are a
significant blot on the reputation of Iraqi Kurds
and on the Kurdish people in general. Action by the
Kurdish Regional Government to do away with these
atrocities is long overdue and must follow promises
made to foreign representatives and activists for
women's rights. In addition, Kurdish and other
Muslim religious officials must condemn FGM -- not
only as a custom without basis in Islam, but as a
violation of Islamic principles and general human
rights.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
hudson-ny.org
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
®
