Here we have a Western European country with smart phones and hashtags, where girls are still being subjected to the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation – brought to you, in part, by the loving “religion of peace.” Breitbart reports that school health services in the small Swedish city of Norrköping have found 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) among schoolgirls since March, with evidence of mutilation found in all 30 girls in one class, 28 of the most severe form. The UNFPA says although Female Genital Mutilation is not sanctioned by Islam, supposed religious prescripts (e.g. the mention of ‘Sunna” in the Koran) are often used to justify the practice. According to the World Health Organization. FGM is carried out in 28 countries in the world. It involves the cutting and/or the removal of the clitoris and other vaginal tissue, often under unsanitary conditions. The World Health Organization says today, 94 percent of women in Egypt arrange for their daughters to undergo a “medicalized” form of FGM, 76 percent in Yemen, 65 percent in Mauritania, 48% percent in Côte d’Ivoire, and 46 percent in Kenya. WHO estimates that between 100 and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to female genital mutilation in one form or another. The UNFPA says female genital mutilation is carried out with special knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass or razor blades. Anesthetic and antiseptics are not generally used except when carried out by medical practitioners. In communities where infibulations are practiced, the girls’ legs are often bound together to immobilize her for a period of 10 – 14 days, to allow formation of scar tissue. Apparently concerns about FGM became widespread in Sweden in the early and mid-1990s with the influx of Somali migrants. FGM has been a crime in Sweden since 1982 and can be punished by up to four years in prison, increased to 10 years if judged to be an aggravated offence. The problem is, many girls are becoming victims during the summer, when they visit their parents’ home countries. How’s that for a way to spend your summer vacation? How are women around the world supposed to “coexist” with this? Written by Michele Hickford, Editor-in-Chief on June 20, 2014
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 00:16:15 +0000
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