Egyptian Girl, 13, Dies After Being Circumcised

This is the kind of story that makes my blood boil- supremely ignorant parents still forcing their daughters to undergo the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), and then when it goes wrong (and it does) blaming the unethical doctor who performed the procedure.

FGM can cause irreparable damage to young girls which can worsen as they age, but in some cases they die, like the 13-year-old Egyptian girl- Suhair al-Bata’a- who had the illegal operation and then expired 15 minutes later.

“We left our daughter with the doctor and the nurse. 15 minutes later, the nurse took my daughter out of the operation room to a nearby room, along with three other girls whom the doctor was circumcising,” Mohammed Ibrahim, a farmer, told al-Masry al-Youm.

“I waited half an hour, hoping that my daughter would wake up, but, unfortunately, unlike the rest of the girls, she did not,” he said.

Two years ago, the same doctor circumcised Suhair's older sister, and the mum wants revenge.

“I want nothing but to hold the doctor accountable and to have justice for my daughter,” the victim’s mother, Hasanat Naeem Fawzy, told the newspaper.

UNICEF and Egypt's National Council for Women (ENCW) have condemned what happened, and ENCW has demanded an inquiry and punishment for those involved.  Since the parents are equally responsible- for bringing her to that doctor in the first place- let's hope they are punished as well.

FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 1996, but only one person has been prosecuted since that time- and that was back in 2009.

FGM will continue until it becomes a major crime, with an appropriately severe punishment, for all those involved, including the parents.

The Problem Of Female Genital Mutilation In The UK

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a barbaric practice that won't easily be eradicated. In fact it's a growing problem in Western lands, with the UK now ranking number one in Europe. It's understandable in countries where the bulk of the population lives in ignorance and poverty, but one would think the practice would not survive in the civilized Western world. But not so. The problem is- immigrants bring their religious and cultural practices to their adopted countries, and are loathe to let them go. But it's such a problem that England is willing to invest £35 million to try to reduce the practice in at least 10 countries within the next 5 years.

The Gatestone Institute discusses the huge problem of FGM in the UK:

British authorities are redoubling their fight against the spiraling problem of female genital mutilation (FGM) after a weekly primetime television show broadcast by the BBC forced the previously "taboo" subject into mainstream debate.

FGM is endemic in Muslim-majority countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Three million girls between infancy and age 15 are subject to FGM every year, and it is believed that 140 million women worldwide are suffering from the lifelong consequences of the practice.

FGM has emerged as a major problem in Europe due to mass immigration. The European Parliament estimates that 500,000 girls and women in the European Union are living with FGM, and every year another 180,000 girls in Europe are at risk of being "cut."

Britain has the highest levels of FGM in Europe. According to a government-funded study published in 2007, at least 66,000 women and girls in Britain have had the procedure performed on them, and more than 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are currently at risk.

These figures, however, may be only the tip of the iceberg. A 2011 Department of Health policy paper warns that "it is possible that, due to population growth and immigration from practicing countries…FGM is significantly more prevalent than these figures suggest."

FGM is thought to be common in Britain among immigrant groups from Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kurdistan, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Northern Sudan, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen.

The rest here.

It's unbelievable to think that this still happens in the 21st century in the West, and that it's actually becoming epidemic. It's all about education, but the only ones who can influence the parents of these young girls are the Imams, and that doesn't seem likely, because FGM is just another way to control women, in a religion that has little respect for them.

Malaysia Poised To Re-Classify Female Genital Mutilation As Medical Practice

There is debate about whether male circumcision is a necessary procedure, but most will agree that there are health benefits associated with removal of the foreskin.  On the other hand, female circumcision, or the far more appropriate term "female genital mutilation" (FGM), is nothing more than that- mutilation and torture, a surgery that can cause women terrible, lifelong physical problems. There is absolutely no medical necessity to remove the female genitalia, but the Malaysian health ministry is trying to re-classify what should be considered an abomination as a medical practice.

In 2009, the Fatwa Committee of Malaysia's National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs ruled that "female circumcision", as it has become known, was obligatory for Muslims but if harmful must be avoided.

Human rights activist Azrul Mohamad Khalib has written a scathing commentary calling for abolition of the practice.

He says it has no religious or medical benefits.

Problem is, it's a practice that already is firmly rooted in the society and culture in what is considered to be a moderate Muslim nation. According to a university survey, the bulk of Malay females who are Muslim have already been subjected to FGM.  In fact, 90% of the 1,000 or so women surveyed had been mutilated.

Khalib who is also involved with the International Planned Parenthood Federation found the results:

"both surprising and a little bit disappointing".

And his response to reclassifying FGM as a medical practice, which up until now has mostly been performed by private practitioners:

"One of the things I find quite alarming with regards to this development is that the Ministry of Health is actually depending on a fatwa, a religious opinion that was actually issued by the national fatwa council, in which they made it obligatory, or 'wajib', for all Muslim women to be circumcised.

"It seems that the Ministry of Health is now (instituting) that fatwa.

"So, in contrary to quite a number of best practices as well as a WHO (World Health Organisation) advisory, the Ministry of Health is taking steps now to sort of make it standardised, or medicalised, in such a way that it might be applied to all public health-care facilities."

"One of the things that those working on gender issues in Malaysia have come to realise is that a barrier when we deal with these sort of issues is the lack of awareness - the 'why' of such practices and how harmful it can be.

"Certainly when it comes to female circumcision, the position that has been taken is that if it does do no harm why not do it? Well . . . if there are no benefits to doing it, why do it?

"One of the first steps that we are trying to push out forward is that we are very much trying to spread awareness that such practices are unnecessary.

"They're not required by religion, they're not having any medical benefits whatsoever and certainly when we look at it it's strictly cultural in its entirety.

"But as you mentioned, it is going to be extremely hard if more than 90 per cent of the Malay Muslim population already practising it."

Rather than re-classifying the procedure they should do some heavy duty re-education, but that will never happen because FGM is just another means of controlling women.

Tolerant U.K. Mecca For Female Genital Mutilation

Britain's lax laws and reputation as being tolerant and politically-correct has turned the nation into a mecca for female genital mutilation (FGM). Since it's more difficult in other European countries to hack their daughters' genitalia off- over 100 people in France will spend up to 13 years in jail for the crime- some African immigrant families living in Europe are bringing their daughters over to England to have it done. In fact, they often have FGM parties because it's cheaper in bulk.

Although England banned the practice in the 1980s,  no-one has ever been prosecuted, and Metropolitan Police Commander Simon Foy- head of the Child Abuse Investigation Command-doesn't seem to think prosecution would be much of a deterrent. Foy said he wasn't

".. necessarily sure that the availability of a stronger sense of prosecution will change it [the incidence of FGM] for the better".

That's why so many young girls are sent to England to undergo one of the most horrific and barbaric things you can do to a female.

Isabelle Gillette-Faye, director of the French protest group GAMS, said she recently learnt of two girls due to be taken from Paris to London to be mutilated. She believes the UK is the preferred destination for many others in African-immigrant communities in France – where, unlike in the UK, young girls are routinely checked by doctors until the age of six to ensure they have not been harmed.

"In England you are very respectful about traditions of every community who live in your country," she said. "In our country it is totally different, because when migrants arrive in France they have a necessity to integrate with our law and traditions. We will not tolerate the mutilation of children."

Some 20,000 girls are at risk of being mutilated in cities across Britain, according to Forward, the leading group campaigning in the UK against FGM.

Amina Yahaya, an 18-year-old British-Somali student living in Bristol, said she knew of "FGM parties" being held in the city. "They cut them all together, as a group," she explained, "because it is cheaper. At first, the girls are all excited because it's a party, until they realise what is going to happen, and then they get frightened."

At least some African countries are making the effort to stop the practice. In 2009, Uganda banned and criminalized FGM. But it's not just an African female rite of passage, it's just as prevalent in the Arab world. Women's rights groups were up in arms when Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood this year declared it was organizing mobile FGM clinics.

FGM is just another means of controlling women in a religious culture that demeans and devalues them on so many levels and in so many ways.

Mobile FGM Convoys Being Organized By Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

China has its mobile abortion clinics, and now Egypt's enlightened Muslim Brotherhood is sending out mobile medical convoys to convince families to have their young daughters undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) for free, at least according to Bikyamasr (which isn't always trustworthy). In spite of the fact that this horrific practice is actually illegal in Egypt, it is still a common tradition among the poor and uneducated.

Naturally, human rights organizations in Egypt are in an uproar over the fact that the Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party has officially sanctioned these mobile FGM units. An article on Bikyamasr isn't clear as to whether the FGM is actually being performed in those mobile units or whether they're just aggressively encouraging the practice, but either way it's reprehensible.  At least there are people trying to do something about it.

A number of Egyptian human rights groups have submitted a communication to the Attorney General against the Muslim Brotherhood`s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) to investigate the complaints of people in the village of Abu Aziz in the Minya governorate, south of Cairo, over the existence of a large medical convoy organized by the party that wanders streets and does medical examination on people, including female circumcision, or female genital mutilation, in violation of Egyptian law, conventions and treaties signed by Egypt.

In Egypt’s legal code, Female Genital Mutilation is criminalized, as well as the inciting by doctors to convince families of the young girls of the need to agree to circumcise their daughters, “as a matter of preserving chastity.”

The communication demanded Mervat Tallawy, the head of the National Council for Women (NCW) and Major General Seraj EL Din El Rouby, the Governor of Minya, and Nasr El Sayed , Assistant Minister for primary health care, and preventive medicine, and family planning, to intervene to stop what it called “a farce propaganda for free circumcision, which was organized by one of the political parties, in Minya governorate to promote circumcision.”

Thankfully, there's an effort to educate women on how not to succumb to pressure- whether they'll have any success is questionable. And women's groups and others are attempting to get the Muslim Brotherhood and others to follow the rule of law with respect to FGM, but that too is doubtful.

The National Council for Women has criticized the FJP's stance on FGM claiming that it puts

"the person who promotes it under penalty of law because FGM is criminalized, and against human rights in general and women in particular.”

FGM was a problem under Mubarak, as well, but it wasn't sanctioned by the government.

And this is what the long, hard-earned battle against tyranny got the Egyptians after the Arab Spring, a worst kind of tyranny.

Men Forcing Wives To Undergo Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the most horrifying rituals still practiced today. And it's not just Muslims chopping off the genitals of young girls, Christians in Africa are just as guilty, in spite of widespread efforts to ban the practice.  In fact, according to one report out of Kenya,  people are going out of their way to ensure that the tradition lives on by changing the season in which it's performed- from December to August,

...to avoid media spotlight and scrutiny from Government agencies.

FGM is performed on girls as young as a few days old and usually through puberty, but now per that same report, married women who were mercifully spared the knife as young girls are being forced to have the procedure done.

"Those who evaded the cut are now being forced to undergo the cultural practice or their husbands be denied land inheritance," said Women Rights Institute for Peace (Wrip) Executive Director Mariam Suleiman while releasing the report.

This was after Wrip undertook project activities geared towards preventing attempts to subject girls to the cut in November and December in Baringo County.

Suleiman said husbands force their wives to undergo the cut to avoid missing out on family inheritance.

Some chiefs and their assistants from the areas were accused of shielding FGM perpetrators from prosecution.

Circumcision period

"In East Pokot District the community in collusion with the Provincial Administration has changed the circumcision period from December to August to avoid the public, Government and media focus that comes at the end of the year," Wrip Executive Director stated.

She added that those who escaped the practice midyear are forced by their relatives to undergo the cut in December.

The report showed that only 99 girls underwent the cut in the months of November and December while 125 escaped and sought refuge in churches and at homes of relatives who are against the vice.

Suleiman further stated that lack of awareness of constitutional rights has made some girls not to seek legal action against perpetrators of the vice for fear of reprisals from their parents.

"There is need to educate them on laws, the court processes and the outcome especially on the fact that moving to court will not have their parents arrested," she said.

The Wrip boss urged anti-FGM stakeholders to let the campaigns be a continuous process to end the vice.

It's all about control. Shameful.

Female Genital Mutilation Gets Up To Life In Prison In Uganda

There's good news out of Uganda regarding female genital mutilation (FGM)- one of the most barbaric, backwards and abusive practices forced on young females in parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere. The Ugandan parliament has just passed a law banning female circumcision, a traditional right of passage performed on young girls under the age of 15, without their consent. An horrific cultural, and sometimes religious practice, which predates Islam and Christianity, the genitalia of the child is wholly or partially removed.

Sometimes the remaining flesh is stitched closed, a practice called infibulation, leaving only a tiny opening for urination and menstruation, and making intercourse and childbirth painful.

It's estimated 2 to 3 million mutilations are performed per year, and there are anywhere from 130 to 140 million women worldwide who have been tortured through female genital mutilation; at least those still living, since it's common for girls to die during the procedure or from complications, including infection. And it is torture in many instances where anesthesia is not used, and the methods can be very primitive-

“I have never been traumatised my whole life,” reported MP Margaret Muhanga as she testified to her witness of FMG. “They used a sharp stone and cut off the girl’s clitoris…Imagine your daughter being treated like that.”

“The Lord was not stupid to put it the way he did,” said Ngora MP Francis Epetait. “All those accessories had their purpose. It is very stupid for man to claim to be wiser than God.”

The sentencing structure varies depending on certain factors
- 10 years for those caught performing FGM.
-Life in prison if the child dies, contracts HIV or is eventually disabled. It seems the risk of HIV AIDS is much higher for those who have been circumcised.

The Bill passed unanimously, although stopping the practice will be very difficult. Though it has been banned in other African countries, Egypt and elsewhere, it is still far too prevalent. Old habits die hard, and unless you start a massive re-education programme the horrific practice will continue. At least this is a step in the right direction.