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Should The Home Office Take Responsibility For Ending Fgm?
Campaigners have launched a petition demanding the Home Office takes responsibility for ending female genital mutilation in the UK. No single UK government department has responsibility for ending FGM. Instead, work is shared between the Home Office, departments of health and education, the Ministry of Justice and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Leyla Hussein, a victim of the cultural practice and co-founder of the anti-FGM charity Daughters of Eve, said urgent action is needed because thousands of girls from the UK are still being cut despite years of campaigning. She added ““In the UK we say we respect other people’s cultures which is why my parents moved here. But lines have got crossed and political correctness has gone crazy. People tiptoe around the subject.”
http://
epetition here: http://
Leyla Hussein, a victim of the cultural practice and co-founder of the anti-FGM charity Daughters of Eve, said urgent action is needed because thousands of girls from the UK are still being cut despite years of campaigning. She added ““In the UK we say we respect other people’s cultures which is why my parents moved here. But lines have got crossed and political correctness has gone crazy. People tiptoe around the subject.”
http://
epetition here: http://
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Home Office perhaps, but this is so chilling, from the link.
Many girls are at risk now as the “cutting season” approaches, when they can be flown abroad in the school holiday for the procedure. But FGM, though illegal in the UK since 1985, is also carried out here. The girls are from families who moved to the UK from countries where it is widespread, including Somalia, Sudan, Senegal and Egypt.
Many girls are at risk now as the “cutting season” approaches, when they can be flown abroad in the school holiday for the procedure. But FGM, though illegal in the UK since 1985, is also carried out here. The girls are from families who moved to the UK from countries where it is widespread, including Somalia, Sudan, Senegal and Egypt.
What more realistically cab we do? It is already illegal here , how do you stop people from taking their girls abroad to get it done ?
The vast majority of it is carried out by taking the girls back home for a 'holiday'. I agree it wrong and barbaric but I fail to see what more we can do apart from trying to educate the parents into seeing how wrong it is.
The vast majority of it is carried out by taking the girls back home for a 'holiday'. I agree it wrong and barbaric but I fail to see what more we can do apart from trying to educate the parents into seeing how wrong it is.
Interesting article on this topic in the New York Times from yesterday,
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We should be doing what we can to eradicate the practice. Given the nature of the process though, and who it is carried out on, there are obvious difficulties monitoring activity and enforcing the law.
Ultimately, the answer has to come from within those communities which still sanction this barbarism.
http://
We should be doing what we can to eradicate the practice. Given the nature of the process though, and who it is carried out on, there are obvious difficulties monitoring activity and enforcing the law.
Ultimately, the answer has to come from within those communities which still sanction this barbarism.
LG, thanks for the link.
//No major religion endorses circumcision. ……. In fact, they [the practices of genital mutilation] weren’t in any religious book//
That is misleading. Neither of those statements is strictly true. Mohammed (whose words and deeds are considered to be beyond criticism) sanctioned FGM – which is why this barbaric practice is carried out without question in many Islamic societies.
Em, //women are often complicit in it, something i will never understand. //
See my post at 8.14.
//No major religion endorses circumcision. ……. In fact, they [the practices of genital mutilation] weren’t in any religious book//
That is misleading. Neither of those statements is strictly true. Mohammed (whose words and deeds are considered to be beyond criticism) sanctioned FGM – which is why this barbaric practice is carried out without question in many Islamic societies.
Em, //women are often complicit in it, something i will never understand. //
See my post at 8.14.
@ Naomi - I do not know whether the article could be considered misleading or not on the specific issue of whether the practice is sanctioned, encouraged or endorsed by the Koran - I just do not know. If you have examples of verses or hadiths or sura that explicitly encourage or condone such practices, I would be interested in a link or an example...
Pragmatically though- this is an issue of hearts and minds. Unless you change the attitudes of the communities where this is common(?), you will never end the practice.
And I was impressed with the success rate of this initiative. From the link I gave
"Today, however, cutting has vanished from Kembata-Tembaro, as have bride abduction and widow inheritance. A study (pdf) done for the Innocenti Research Center, a research arm of Unicef, found that cutting had only 3 percent support in 2008 — down from 97 percent in 1999. This is a remarkable achievement. There is nothing more difficult than persuading people to give up long-held cultural practices, especially those bound up in taboo subjects like sex.
The change happened because of an organization that Gebre and her sister Fikrte started called Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-Toppe, which means “women of Kembata working together.” It is now known simply as KMG-Ethiopia."
Pragmatically though- this is an issue of hearts and minds. Unless you change the attitudes of the communities where this is common(?), you will never end the practice.
And I was impressed with the success rate of this initiative. From the link I gave
"Today, however, cutting has vanished from Kembata-Tembaro, as have bride abduction and widow inheritance. A study (pdf) done for the Innocenti Research Center, a research arm of Unicef, found that cutting had only 3 percent support in 2008 — down from 97 percent in 1999. This is a remarkable achievement. There is nothing more difficult than persuading people to give up long-held cultural practices, especially those bound up in taboo subjects like sex.
The change happened because of an organization that Gebre and her sister Fikrte started called Kembatti Mentti Gezzima-Toppe, which means “women of Kembata working together.” It is now known simply as KMG-Ethiopia."
LG, the practice isn’t endorsed by the Koran – the Koran doesn’t mention circumcision for males or females - in fact it specifically forbids alteration of Allah's creation in any way – so the Koran cannot be held responsible for this. However, according to the Hadith, Mohammed, whose word is considered to be incontrovertible, endorsed it.
Abu al- Malih ibn `Usama's father relates that the Prophet said: "Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women."
A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.
Additionally and rather worryingly, the controversial Muslim Brotherhood also appears to support the practice. This from Wiki:
“In May of 2012 it was reported by several news sources that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was working to decriminalize female circumcision (FGM). According to reporter Mariz Tadros, "in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood have offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice. The Brotherhood’s strategy to undermine the national campaign to end FGM is three-pronged. Firstly, they contest the notion that the practice is not religiously prescribed. Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless mukarama (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God). They also quote hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet) which stipulates that FGM should involve “cutting, but only lightly”.
The World Health Organisation estimates that, worldwide, some 140 million women and girls have been subjected to it, including 101 million in Africa. There are some figures here.
http://
//Unless you change the attitudes of the communities where this is common(?), you will never end the practice.//
I agree – and the results achieved by those ladies are, indeed, as your link says, remarkable. At last women are rising up and saying ‘No!’ – and that is exactly what is needed. I hope the whole world supports them. Fighting hundreds of years of inbred doctrine and tradition is no mean feat and I applaud them for their determination – and their courage.
Rosetta, thank you.
Abu al- Malih ibn `Usama's father relates that the Prophet said: "Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women."
A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.
Additionally and rather worryingly, the controversial Muslim Brotherhood also appears to support the practice. This from Wiki:
“In May of 2012 it was reported by several news sources that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was working to decriminalize female circumcision (FGM). According to reporter Mariz Tadros, "in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood have offered to circumcise women for a nominal fee as part of their community services, a move that threatens to reverse decades of local struggle against the harmful practice. The Brotherhood’s strategy to undermine the national campaign to end FGM is three-pronged. Firstly, they contest the notion that the practice is not religiously prescribed. Many of the Brothers (and Salafis) argue that while it is not mandatory, it is nevertheless mukarama (preferable, pleasing in the eyes of God). They also quote hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet) which stipulates that FGM should involve “cutting, but only lightly”.
The World Health Organisation estimates that, worldwide, some 140 million women and girls have been subjected to it, including 101 million in Africa. There are some figures here.
http://
//Unless you change the attitudes of the communities where this is common(?), you will never end the practice.//
I agree – and the results achieved by those ladies are, indeed, as your link says, remarkable. At last women are rising up and saying ‘No!’ – and that is exactly what is needed. I hope the whole world supports them. Fighting hundreds of years of inbred doctrine and tradition is no mean feat and I applaud them for their determination – and their courage.
Rosetta, thank you.
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