{"id":19722,"date":"2016-02-07T02:24:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T10:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=19722"},"modified":"2016-02-07T02:24:04","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T10:24:04","slug":"female-genital-mutilation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/07\/female-genital-mutilation\/","title":{"rendered":"Female Genital Mutilation"},"content":{"rendered":"

06 February 2016<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Today, 06\/02\/2016, is the Interbational Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.  A 27\/11\/2012 press release by Amnesty International UK said: <\/span><\/p>\n

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The adoption yesterday of a resolution against female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee is a major boost to civil society organisations fighting for an end to the abusive practice, Amnesty International has said.
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\n\t\tThis is the first time the Assembly’s Third Committee, which addresses social, humanitarian and human rights issues, has adopted a resolution on FGM – the cutting of a girl’s genitalia clitoris often without anaesthetic in conditions that risk potentially fatal infection.<\/p>\n

The resolution is expected to be endorsed by the UN’s General Assembly in December.  Although not legally binding, UN General Assembly resolutions carry considerable moral and political weight.<\/p>\n

FGM is common in 28 countries in Africa as well as in Yemen, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia and in certain ethnic groups in South America. However it is an issue of worldwide concern, said Amnesty, with Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights and girls in diaspora communities also at risk of being subjected to FGM.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then on 27\/12\/2012, <\/span><\/p>\n

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A resolution against female genital mutilation (FGM) has been endorsed by the UN general assembly in a move hailed by Amnesty International. Today’s result was a first for the UN’s general assembly. …<\/p>\n

“The UN resolution places FGM in a human rights framework and calls for a holistic approach, stressing as it does the importance of empowerment of Women's rights's, promotion and protection of sexual and reproductive health, and breaking the cycle of discrimination and violence.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Wikipedia<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — FGM "…is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia<\/a>. Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade, with or without anaesthesia<\/a>, FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, and found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among diaspora<\/a>  communities around the world."<\/p>\n

\"FGM_prevalence_UNICEF_2015.svg\"<\/a>By Johnuniq – Own work, GFDL, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=37848398<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, there are growing numbers in Indonesia.  Here is an article from 2014 specifically dealing with FGM in Indonesia.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/strong><\/span><\/a> — <\/span>It's hot, noisy and chaotic, and almost everyone is smiling.<\/p>\n

Twelve-year-old Suminah is not. She looks like she wants to punch somebody. Under her white hijab, which she has yanked down over her brow like a hoodie, her eyes have the livid, bewildered expression of a child who has been wronged by people she trusted. She sits on a plastic chair, swatting away her mother's efforts to placate her with a party cup of milk and a biscuit. Suminah is in severe pain. An hour earlier, her genitals were mutilated with scissors as she lay on a school desk.<\/p>\n

During the morning, 248 Indonesian girls undergo the same ordeal. Suminah is the oldest, the youngest is just five months. It is April 2006 and the occasion is a mass ceremony to perform sunat perempuan<\/em> or "female circumcision" that has been held annually since 1958 by the Bandung-based Yayasan Assalaam<\/a>, an Islamic foundation that runs a mosque and several schools. The foundation holds the event in the lunar month of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, and pays parents 80,000 rupiah (£6) and a bag of food for each daughter they bring to be cut.  …<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"female<\/p>\n

Suminah will be 18 now; a grown woman. She could well be married, or at least betrothed. Soon enough she will probably have her own kids. I hope she's forgotten her pain, but held on to her rage.<\/p>\n

The how and why of female genital cutting varies around the globe.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The 'how' :<\/span><\/p>\n

Female genital mutilation<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is classified into four major types:<\/p>\n