On this day of Celebration for what MLK Jr. did...

[Larry_OHF]

The world Health Organization is quoted in my Health Textbook as saying that Africa is the worst country in the world for human rights violations, specifically to females.


In 1997, a woman escaped her homeland to come live in the US seeking assylum because her cultural heritage was one that requires women and girls to be mutilated in various ways...and the process and its aftermath are serious health hazards...as well as the aforementioned violation to human rights.

Upon learning this, the US declared that funds would be withheld from any country practicing this crazy ritual, and it was written down to be never allowed in the US. The groups that do this say it is their cultural right to do as they please in their own land, so the WHO cannot enforce human rights to protect the poor women, most not even realizing that they are being mistreated.

For more information on this:

http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact241.html
http://www.who.int/docstore/frh-whd/FGM/
http://www.who.int/docstore/frh-whd/...ons/p-fgm1.htm
http://www.who.int/archives/inf-pr-1997/en/pr97-29.html
http://www.emro.who.int/rhrn/part5.htm

[Melusine]

Larry, it is in fact often the women themselves who allow and even perform FGM (female genital mutilation). It's a horrible fact.
The tradition is hard to stamp out since women who haven't been "operated upon" are regarded as unsuitable marriage-partners, so mothers allow their daughters to be mutilated to prevent them from being ostracised. They don't know any better, having undergone the treatment themselves.
I've read a lot about the subject, partly because I work part-time for Amnesty International.
It's good you drew attention to this, and good your country is trying to do something about it, even if I don't know whether it'll work.

BTW, there are many countries on Amnesty's "black list" - including the USA and several European countries. Granted, our transgressions are less bad thn something like FGM, but we shouldn't forget about it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Larry_OHF]

Hey...my Health Teacher gives extra credit if the students go the extra mile and learn more about a topic than was covered in class. If you have anything of interest to me for this chapter of WHO and your Amnesty Int., I am in need of it!
Thanks in advance.

[Melusine]

Well, I don't think Amnesty.org comes near to being as informative and elaborate as my own country's Amnesty website, but it might help. For the rest, just do a Google on FGM - it should turn up some links. I used to have some informative sites bookmarked but I haven't transferred my old bookmarks to my new PC yet.

[Bungleau]

Your google search might also use "female circumcision", Larry. I suspect that FGM is the less ... offensive ... way to describe it. Or perhaps it's more offensive... I'm not sure.

[Chewbacca]

While forced female circumcision is a disturbing and cruel practice I am confused as to what this has to do with MLK day?

Perhaps by speaking out against violence and injustice we can follow in the footsteps of his spirit? edit- Oh if this is the case, I guess my sig quote is relevant then. duh! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 01-19-2004, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: Chewbacca ]

[Melusine]

Originally posted by Bungleau: Your google search might also use "female circumcision", Larry. I suspect that FGM is the less ... offensive ... way to describe it. Or perhaps it's more offensive... I'm not sure.

It's the technical term human rights organisations and the like use, so that's why I suggested it - hoping the search would turn up more sites from serious organisations then. Also, using female circumcision as a search term, I got some sites promoting "hoodectomy" as an "elective" surgery meant to stimulate rather than deaden feeling.
Offensive or not offensive are irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. It's a sickening practise no matter what label you put on it or how much you are (in)offended by the label.

[ 01-20-2004, 06:41 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[Donut]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: The world Health Organization is quoted in my Health Textbook as saying that Africa is the worst country in the world for human rights violations, specifically to females. In 1997, a woman escaped her homeland to come live in the US seeking assylum because her cultural heritage was one that requires women and girls to be mutilated in various ways...and the process and its aftermath are serious health hazards...as well as the aforementioned violation to human rights. Upon learning this, the US declared that funds would be withheld from any country practicing this crazy ritual, and it was written down to be never allowed in the US. The groups that do this say it is their cultural right to do as they please in their own land, so the WHO cannot enforce human rights to protect the poor women, most not even realizing that they are being mistreated. For more information on this: http://www.who.int/inf-fs/en/fact241.html http://www.who.int/docstore/frh-whd/FGM/ http://www.who.int/docstore/frh-whd/...ons/p-fgm1.htm http://www.who.int/archives/inf-pr-1997/en/pr97-29.html http://www.emro.who.int/rhrn/part5.htm

Just a few points Larry. Africa isn't a country it's a whole continent and contains scores of countries, only a couple of which practice female circumcism. The main country where this takes place is Senegal.

I have worked for a Muslim doctor in London who was approached on many occasions by young Senegalese girls to have this act performed. They weren't being coerced. It is illegal in the UK so he never agreed. The point is that however "crazy" we may feel the act is, it is the acceptable norm in Senegal. The same could be said about male circumcism for religious purposes.

I may be a cynic but it seems to me that any women from the Horn of Africa who want to emigrate to the US might use this for a reason.


BTW - I agree about the health hazards, but they mainly arise because the operation is done in some unhygenic back street room.


I'm afraid that connecting this practice with the actions of Martin Luther King doesn't really hold water.

[Melusine]

General information
How FGM is trivialised
Female circumcision - a moderate view
Rite of Passage or Violation of rights?
Amnesty Info

[ 01-20-2004, 06:48 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[Melusine]

Good post, Donut. I'd eyeskipped over "Africa as a country" completely.. DOH!! [img]graemlins/doh.gif[/img] That's awful. :S

Anyway, I purposely linked to one article that takes a moderate view to the issue, mentioning like I have before that women allow and perform the operation themselves, and arguing like you that we need to look at our own male circumcision practices first. I don't want to present an unbalanced view or anything.
However, I don't think there's any amount of talking that can change my mind as to the cruelty and horror that this "tradition" is. I don't give a shit if that's culturally intolerant or anything. I'm not at all thinking that the practice will be easy to root out, but in this case I cannot accept the 'cultural differences' excuse. (not saying you are, mind!)

When I recruit Amnesty members, I always get a few people arguing that we "cannot force our own values down the throats of other cultures". It's one of the hardest arguments to deal with, and I see what they mean but if we're talking of human rights alone, I disagree. To me human rights are not, or should not be, culturally determined: they are universal. And FGM definitely violates human rights.

Edit: I have to say I don't see the connection to MLK day either, though!

[ 01-20-2004, 06:53 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]