Conclusions
There are indications that FGM might be a phenomenon of epidemic proportions in the Arab Middle East. Hosken, for instance, notes that traditionally all women in the Persian Gulf region were mutilated.[42] Arab governments refuse to address the problem. They prefer to believe that lack of statistics will enable international organizations to conclude that the problem does not exist in their jurisdictions. It is not enough to consult Islamic clerics to learn about the mutilation of girls in Islamic societies—that is like asking the cook if the guests like the meal. U.N. agencies operating in the region ignore FGM statistics saying they have no applicable mandate to gather such data. Hosken describes it as a cartel of silence: men from countries were FGM is practiced "enjoy much influence at the U.N."[43] and show no interest in tackling pressing social problems.
To tackle the problem, Western countries and human rights organizations need to continue to break down the wall of silence and autocracy that blights the Arab Middle East and better promote the notion of individual rights. They should withhold conclusions about the breadth of FGM and, for that matter, other social problems or political attitudes until they can conduct independent field research.
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken and Thomas Uwer are, respectively, managing director and board member of WADI.
Update from June 17, 2010: In this fresh study by Human Rights watch, which examines FGM in Kurdistan, the striking and disturbing thing is the extent to which Kurdish authorities have gone to minimize the problem and to ridicule the report's conclusion. This is a repeated feature of official responses to this and other problems across the region, where fear of embarrassment before world opinion carries greater weight than the damage done to women, young girls, and babies. -- The Editors
Notes
[1] See, for example, Marie José Simonet, "FMG: Sunna oder Verbrechen aus Tradition," stopFMG.net, Vienna, June 24, 2005.
[2] Haseena Lockhat, Female Genital Mutilation: Treating the Tears (London: Middlesex University Press, 2004), p. 16.
[3] Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung: Geschichte, Ausmaß, Formen und Folgen (Vienna: Renner Institut, 2004), p. 6.
[4] See, for example, Innocenti Digest: Changing a Harmful Social Convention: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (Florence: UNICEF, 2005).
[5] Die Zeit (Hamburg), May 11, 2006.
[6] See, for example, Changing a Harmful Social Convention, p. VII.
[7] "Fact Sheet no. 23, Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children," U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, accessed Aug. 11, 2006.
[8] ECOSOC resolution 821 II (XXXII); ibid.
[9] "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women," U.N. General Assembly resolution 34/180, Dec. 18, 1979.
[10] "Convention on the Rights of the Child," U.N. General Assembly resolution 44/25, Nov. 20, 1989, art. 24, 3.
[11] Dara Carr, Female Genital Cutting: Findings from the Demographic and Health Surveys Program (Calverton, Md.: Macro International, 1997), p. 1.
[12] Gerry Mackie, "A Way to End Female Genital Cutting," Female Genital Cutting education and Networking Project, Tallahassee, Fla., accessed Aug. 4, 2006.
[13] Eiman Okro, "Weibliche Genitalverstümmelung im Sudan," PhD dissertation, Humboldt University, Berlin (Hamburg: Akademos Science Publishing House, 2001); "Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Information by Country," Amnesty International, accessed Sept. 1, 2006.
[14] Changing a Harmful Social Convention, p. 3.
[15] "What Is Female Genital Mutilation?" Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit, Frankfurt, Ger., 2005, accessed Aug. 4, 2006.
[16] See, for example, "Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Africa, The Middle East and Far East: Where, Why and How It Is Done," Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, updated Mar. 2005.
[17] Fran P. Hosken, The Hosken Report: Genital and Sexual Mutilation of Females (Lexington: The Women's International Network News, 1993), pp. 275-8.
[18] WADI, offices in Frankfurt and Sulaimaniya.
[19] Janet Menage, "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Women Who Have Undergone Obstetric and/or Gynecological Procedures. A Consecutive Series of 30 Cases of PTSD," Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 11(1993): 221-8.
[20] Data derived from WADI field research in the Garmian region of Iraqi Kurdistan, 2005; Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 10, 2005; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Jan. 21, 2005; "Widespread FGM in Northern Iraq," Global Health Council, Jan. 6, 2005; "Iraq: Decades of Suffering, Now Women Deserve Better," Amnesty International, London, Feb. 22, 2005.
[21] Mackie, "A Way to End Female Genital Cutting."
[22] WADI field research, 2005.
[23] U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Mar. 16, 2005.
[24] Ronak Faraj, "Female Circumcision," Women Information and Culture Center, Sulaimaniya, Iraq, 2004.
[25] The Irish Times (Dublin), Oct. 25, 2005.
[26] Judith Götz, " Anmerkungen zu einer Veranstaltung‚ Die politische Lage im Irak," Jan. 28, 2005, accessed Oct. 11, 2006.
[27] NBC News, Oct. 21, 2004.
[28] Mackie, "A Way to End Female Genital Cutting"; Marie Vento, "One Thousand Years of Chinese Footbinding: Its Origins, Popularity and Demise," paper, City University of New York, Mar. 7, 1998.
[29] "American Experience: Kinsey in the News," Public Broadcasting Service, Jan. 27, 2005.
[30] Hosken, The Hosken Report, p. 278.
[31] Michael Rubin, "Sanctions on Iraq: A Valid Anti-American Grievance?" Middle East Review of International Affairs, June, 2002.
[32] "Iraq Living Conditions Survey 2004," United Nations Development Program, Baghdad, 2005.
[33] Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. A Statistical Exploration (New York: UNICEF, 2005), p. 10.
[34] Ellen Gruenbaum, The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), p. 33.
[35] Hanny Lightfoot-Klein. "Prisoners of Ritual: Some Contemporary Developments in the History of Female Genital Mutilation," presented at the Second International Symposium on Circumcision in San Francisco, Apr. 30-May 3, 1991.
[36] Julia M. Masterson and Julie Hanson Swanson, Female Genital Cutting: Breaking the Silence, Enabling Change (Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women and the Center for Development and Population Activities, 2000), p. 5.
[37] "Female Genital Mutilation: A Joint WHO/UNICEF/UNFPA Statement," Geneva, 1997.
[38] Sami A. Aldeeb Abu Sahlieh, "To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah: Legitimization of Male and Female Circumcision," Medicine and Law, July 1994, pp. 575-622.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Razor's Edge: The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation, IRIN, Mar. 2005; Sheikh Omer, interview, IRINnews.org, U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Mar. 8, 2005.
[41] "Appendix: Is Female Circumcision Required?" Jannah.org, accessed Aug. 11, 2005.
[42] Hosken, The Hosken Report, p. 277.
[43] Ibid., p. 375.
http://www.meforum.org/1629/is-female-genital-mutilation-an-islamic-problem'Nuf said.