Title: Stopping female genital mutilation. An update.

POPLINE Document Number: 108677

Author(s):

Gamble A

Source citation:

FREEDOM REVIEW, 1995 Sep-Oct;26(5):22-3.

Abstract:

There is widespread consensus among many individuals, countries, and organizations that female genital mutilation (FGM) is a human rights abuse. France, Britain, Sweden, and Switzerland have passed legislation forbidding medical personnel from performing FGM, eighteen African countries have made official statements against FGM, and FGM was an issue in the 1993 World Health Assembly, the 1993 World Human Rights Conference, and the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development. True change, however, depends upon a transformation in the informal economic, social, and political structures which perpetuate women's dependency upon marriage and men. The Research Action Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBOW) and the Development Law and Policy Unit of the Columbia University School of Public Health introduced the Global Action Against FGM (GAAFGM) Project in June 1994. The project is designed to integrate action against FGM into existing health and human rights programs and to pool available resources against FGM. GAAFGM has also coordinated an interagency working group comprised of international agencies, in-country grassroots organizations, and women's groups, which met for the first time in November 1994. The project should provide considerable information and leadership on the issue. On another front, participants in the most recent preparatory meeting for the upcoming Beijing Conference noted the existence of a strong recognition that FGM is a problem upon which the international community should act. The author notes recent litigation brought by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights against the grand sheik of Al-Azhar University for issuing a fatwa declaring female circumcision an Islamic duty. In addition, a Ghanaian may be granted refugee status in Canada on the basis of her efforts to avoid mutilation if deported to her country of origin.

Keywords:

Global
Ghana
Egypt
Canada
Female Genital Cutting
Developing Countries
Africa, Western
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Africa, Northern
North America, Northern
Americas
Developed Countries
Harmful Traditional Practices
Traditional Health Practices
Culture