Female circumcision surfaces in Iraq
- From: aozotorp@xxxxxxx
- Date: 14 Aug 2005 15:11:44 -0700
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0810/p06s01-woiq.html
from the August 10, 2005 edition
Female circumcision surfaces in Iraq
A German aid group finds the first solid proof of the practice, thought
to be prevalent in the Middle East.
By Nicholas Birch | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
KIRKUK, IRAQ - Set on an arid plain southeast of Kirkuk, Hasira looks
like a place forsaken by time. Sheep amble past mud-brick houses and
the odd sickly palm tree shades children's games. There is no
electricity.
Yet along with 39 other villages in this region that Iraq's Kurds have
named Germian (meaning hot place), Hasira and its people have become
noted for presenting the first statistical evidence in Iraq of the
existence of female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM),
as critics call it.
"We knew Germian was one of the areas most affected by the practice,"
says Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, director of a German nongovernmental
organization called WADI, which has been based in Iraq for more than a
decade.
Of 1,554 women and girls over 10 years old interviewed by WADI's local
medical team, 907, or more than 60 percent, said they had had the
operation. The practice is known to exist throughout the Middle East,
particularly in northern Saudi Arabia, southern Jordan, and Iraq. There
is also circumstantial evidence to suggest it is present in Syria,
western Iran, and southern Turkey.
But while this practice was suspected in the region, there was never
solid proof that the procedure was so prevalent. ... (cont)
.
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