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Wadi and Aware organize first ever conference on Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting in Singapore
9.1.2016. By Hannah Wettig. Women from Malaysia, Thailand, India and Singapore joined on Thursday in Singapore to present their perspectives on FGM/C in their countries and discuss ways to eliminate the practice. It is the first time that such a meeting took place in Singapore and even in South East Asia as a whole, assumes Vivienne Wee, a founding member of the Singaporean women’s organization Aware. The Singaporean feminist organization organized the conference together with WADI as part of WADI’s Stop FGM in the Middle East & Asia campaign. (more…)
The logical Indian: Female Genital Mutilation – A Barbaric Practice Leaving Scars On Millions Of Women Worldwide
14.10.2015. By Richa Verma.
It is what my grandmother called the three feminine sorrows.
She said the day of circumcision, the wedding night and the births of a baby are the triple feminine sorrows.
Feminine Pains (poem, 1998)
-Dahabo Ali Muse, Somali.
Independent: Isis may have issued a fatwa introducing FGM in Mosul – but cutting in the Middle East is not new
11.10.2015. By John Chua.
Nearly a decade ago, the NGO I work with began to document Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi Kurdistan. At first people there wouldn’t talk about the issue and some denied its existence. Kurdish grandmothers even told us their own sons would beat or kill them if people found out they spoke about this taboo subject.
When we published the result of our surveys that showed the overall mutilation rate across most of Kurdistan was 72 per cent of women. Experts in the West were shocked. Few had realised the problem even existed in this region before, let alone the extent we had been able to expose. (more…)
Singapore
A Cinderella makeover without a fairy godmother by Benjamin Ho.sg
Rituals change despite similarities to other south east asian countries
Singapore is a multicultural society with strong Malay traditions. About 15% of the city’s population of not quite six million are of Malay origin. Thus to no surprise, reports about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Singapore show similarities to other findings on the Malay archipelago in Malaysia, South Thailand and Indonesia.
No studies exist but the practice is reportedly widespread among the Muslim community and usually performed as Type I or Type IV FGM, cutting the clitoris or the clitoral hood (described as the size of a nail clipping, a quarter-grain of rice, a guava seed, a bean, the tip of a leaf, or the head of a needle).
Similar to other places in Southeast Asia, a change in ritual seems to have taken place in the last generations. As the Singapore-born Dutch intactivist Sya Taha writes, FGM in Singapore was traditionally performed as a rite of passage performed to ensure the girl’s virginity and control her sexuality, but changed into a custom performed on babies. Indicators for this development are reports from Singaporean women who know that FGM was originally performed at the beginning of puberty and every child which wanted to know about their sisters or cousins experience was objurgated for being too interested in sexual things. But then the age dropped and now usually newborns undergo the practice.
A “Mik Bidan”, the post-partum midwife, usually performs FGM on the newborn, but medicalisation is also reported. The midwife’s other duties include helping the mother to get back in shape after birth and teach her how to nurse the child. Another way to get FGM done and to ensure that “not too much” is cut away – which is a well known concern as far as anecdotal evidence tells us – is to visit one of the few Muslim clinics where female doctors offer to “circumcise” girls. One of them stated that she cuts five to six persons per day, emphasizing that not only newborns and girls of prepubescent age are brought to her but sometimes adult women also undergo this procedure. The cost of 17$ isn’t covered by health insurance.
Many answer with disbelieve and denial when they hear about FGM in Singapore – further reports needed
Even though Singaporean Muslims are adherents to the Shafi’i school of Islam which views “female circumcision” as mandatory, views in Singapore seem to be much less dogmatic on the issue than elsewhere. Maybe it is because the Muslim community – which is likely to be the only community performing FGM in Singapore – is a minority. Quotes from Muslim mothers are spread across the internet where they state that “sunat perempuan” isn’t mandatory. So leaving your girlchild intact is more or less a question of opportunity and coincidence without threatening consequences. Since there has never been a scientific study on FGM in Singapore many inhabitants don’t know about this practice, either. When one woman asked a forum about this tradition and stated how shocked she was to find it happening in her circle of friends, many answered with disbelieve, surprise and denial: “Africa and the Middle East are one thing, but Singapore?!!! Someone should write an article, but I doubt it would get printed due to the censorship laws here.” (ladybug, 15.08.2002)
Several Articles were published in the meantime but information on FGM is still very, very little. Unfortunately, even the local women’s rights organisation AWARE repealed from their activities and possibly research on FGM in Singapore which leaves other activists with very little arguments in their hands. One blogger for example stated that she was shocked to find out FGM is performed in Singapore and that she hopes for a ripple effect sharing this news but apparently is unable to provide any more detailed information to support the pure acknowledgement of the existence of this human rights violation.
While individual statements and public discussions support the possibility that FGM is no big deal in Singapore and possibly even changes by itself into a practice that neither endangers a girls physical nor psychological health those impressions must be considered very carefully. Very few people make public statements about FGM in Singapore and probably the supporters of this practise are not among them. While every once in a while a journalist or activists calls out for a law against FGM, families from abroad bring their daughters to Singapore to get them cut. According to a BBC investigation half the clinics in Singapore are willing to carry out the procedure on British girls, no questions asked.
So even if it is true that FGM decreases in the population and even if symbolical practise increases among those who still participate in this harmful tradition, Singapore needs to put an end on the medicalisation of FGM in order to protect girls from all over the world and to prevent the local clinics and private doctors from performing heavier forms if demanded by the paying parents.
Activities:
Beyond the Hijab: Blog Series on Sunat Perempuan, Febuary 2016
WADI and Aware organize first ever conference on female genital mutilation in Singapore, 9.1.2016
Further reading:
Gabriele Marranci: Female circumcision in multicultural Singapore: The hidden cut, Taja – The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 2014
http://theislamicmonthly.com/a-tiny-cut-female-circumcision-in-south-east-asia/
http://orchidproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Singapore-Final.pdf
http://genderindex.org/country/singapore
Foreign Affairs: Under the Knife
27.7.2015.
Grading Iraqi Kurdistan’s Progress Against Female Genital Mutilation
Last month, Nigeria became the most recent African country to formally ban female genital mutilation, a barbaric practice performed on 150 million girls across the world. The move was cheered around the globe, but the celebration was tinged with some reservation. Realistically, most recognize, a piece of paper issued in parliament isn’t enough to combat a deeply rooted tradition stretching back thousands of years. Indeed, although the law “is a major boost not only for Nigeria’s women, but for the nation as a whole,” Stella Mukasa of the International Center for Research on Women told me, “The question is: Will it make a practical difference?”
Why is there little interest in FGM in Asia on the FFD conference in Addis?
15.7.2015. By Hannah Wettig
Thanks to Orchid Project I was able to present the campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi Kurdistan and Asia at the side event of the conference on Financing for Development (FFD) in Addis Ababa. The panel on “Ending Female Genital Cutting” on Monday morning brought together people of quite different experiences. While Sister Fa reported how she supports education about FGM in her home country Senegal with money she collects herself, Domtila Chesang spoke about the village where she is from in Kenia. She decided to become an Anti-FGM activist when she saw the mutilation of her cousin and was terrified. Without support of her family she was still able to get an education at a near-by boarding school and is now happy to be supported by a broad coalition against FGM in Africa. This broad coalition was represented by Susan Bissell from Unicef who was proud to talk about the successes in Africa in the last couple years. David Hallam, director for international relations at the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) said he wished they weren’t the biggest donor, because others should invest lots too, but he also mentioned Norway’s large investment.
Rudaw: Kurdish FGM campaign seen as global model
16.6.2015. By Judit Neurink
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The media campaign that helped lead to the 2011 ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) in the Kurdistan Region is being looked to as an example elsewhere in the region, according to the anti-FGM activist behind the plan.
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken, general manager of the German-Iraqi NGO Wadi, told Rudaw the Kurdish FGM campaign is now being copied in neighboring Iran.
“People look now at Kurdistan as an example. Our Kurdish material is being copied into Farsi. The awareness material is translated and gets used officially. The Stop-FGM-Iran homepage is online,” he said.
Emirates Women: FGM In The Middle East | Investigating Cutting Customs
28.4.2015. By Lindsey Stevens
Emirates Woman investigates the culturally sensitive issue of female genital mutilation, and asks what is being done to put an end to this practice in the Middle East.
The preparations have been made. In a makeshift clinic in an old school hall, tables dressed with sheets and pillows serve as hospital beds. This isn’t a blood donation centre, or the latest round of vaccinations for schoolchildren. It’s a clinic in Indonesia where girls are taken to be circumcised. The coming-of-age practice is performed in many countries across the world. For some, it’s perceived as tradition, for others beautification, and many believe it’s intertwined with religious beliefs. According to official bodies such as the United Nations and the World Health Organisation, it’s a human rights violation broadly described as female genital mutilation (FGM), or cutting. (more…)
Deutsche Welle Persia: Cutting of female genitals
19.2.2015. The Persian program of the German Deutsche Welle recently aired a program about FGM in Iran. In the following we document parts of it (we did not translate some of the general explanations about FGM worldwide):
„The results of a survey show that 83% of women on the island Qeschm and 50% of women in Iranian Kurdistan are mutilated. The researchers are convinced that such practices are also prevalent in other parts of the country. (more…)
Malaysia
Medicalization and Islam: Similar to Indonesia
In Malaysia, prevalence rates, motivations, trends and societal debates about female genital mutilation (FGM) are very similar to those in Indonesia – to little surprise as the country is culturally and religiously close to its much larger neighbor.
The country of nearly 30 million inhabitants is predominately Muslim, basically all ethnic Malays, around 60% of the population, adhere to Islam. According to a study in 2010/12 with more than 1000 respondents the FGM rate among Muslim women is as high as 90%. Among them 82% named religious obligation when asked for their motivations to practice FGM. This corresponds with slightly older regional studies; a study for Kelantan in the north of Malaysia found all the participating 262 women had undergone FGM; a study in five villages in rural northern Malaysia found 597 women out of a total of 630, who experienced FGM.
This strong link to religion can be explained when looking at the position of religious authorities in Malaysia which adhere to the Shafi’i law school of Sunni Islam. In 2009, the Fatwa Committee of Malaysia’s National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs ruled that “female circumcision” was obligatory for Muslims but if harmful must be avoided – this is in accordance with Shafi’i rulings elsewhere. In the govermental e-fatwa it says: “Kharan is not FGM. khatan is circumcision – removal of the clitoral hood.”
The trend seems to be a “medicalisation” of FGM as more professional health personal is engaged in the practice. According to personal accounts like by this father the practice is regarded as “normal” and common among health professionals. Currently, the health ministry reportedly develops guidelines to reclassify FGM as a medical practice.
In response to criticism of the practice from local or international actors, it is often pointed to the mere symbolic value of the commonly practiced “pricking”. However, just as in Indonesia studies suggest that in many cases the so called “pricking” (FGM type IV) is far exceeded and could well turn out to be FGM Type I in half of the cases upon medical examination. According to a malaysian study, the equipment used by midwives are penknives (60%), small scissors (33%), needles (6%) and nail clippers (0.2%). For Malaysia no studies have looked into the changes resulting from medicalisation, but it could well be assumed that the development is similar to Indonesia were health professionals cut deeper than traditional midwifes – anecdotal evidence suggests a similar development in Thailand. The general problem with that “symbolic” cut is: who guarantees that it is really just symbolic? And what if the practice changes?
Historical Roots
As it is in general the case with FGM and its origin, the historical data concerning the development of FGM in the region are vague; nevertheless, a historical study suggests, that cutting the female genitalia was introduced to Southwest Asia from the 13th century onward through the spread of Islam. It was presumably part of the conversion process. This theory seems plausible since the main Muslim religious and cultural influence in the region came from the Eastern part of the Arab peninsula, where till today in Yemen and Oman FGM is common.
The historical development of FGM is not a purely academic question; noting that this “tradition” did not exist since ancient times but was actually part of what was then perceived as a civilization process reminds us, that the “tradition” of FGM is subject to fundamental changes and can also change nowadays completely – in both directions. Today, it can be observed in Malaysia that the practice seems to become fashionable in urban middle class circles. In this, the spread of a more fundamentalist – and modern – Salafi style Islamism seems to play a role in its dissemination into urban areas.
Further Reading:
Manar Al Adam: Malaysia’s anti-FGM advocates: Leave our bodies alone, Al Jazeera, Feb. 7, 2020
Gabrielle Paluch: UN, Malaysia Groups Seek to Repeal Fatwa Requiring FGM, Voice of America, March 2, 2015
Marta Kasztelan, Female Circumcision Is Becoming More Popular in Malaysia, VICE, February 20, 2015
Sya Taha, A Tiny Cut. Female Circumcision in South East Asia, The Islamic Monthly, March 12, 2013
Samir Harith, Resisting FGM in Malaysia: one father’s story, August 1, 2013
William G. Clarence-Smith, ‘Female Circumcision in Southeast Asia since the Coming of Islam’, p.124-146, in Chitra Raghavan and James P. Levine (eds.), Self-Determination and Women’s Rights in Muslim Societies. USA: Brandeis University Press 2012.
Dina Zaman, FGM: It happens in Malaysia too, The Malaysian Insider, Febuary 3, 2011
Studies:
Maznah Dahlui, The Practice of Female Circumcision in Malaysia
Dahlui M., Wong YL., Choo WY. Female circumcision (FC) in Malaysia: Medicalization of a religious practice. Int.J.Behav.Med. (2012) 19 (Suppl 1):S7. (ISI-Cited Publication)
A Rashid, S Patil, A Valimalar, The Practice Of Female Genital Mutilation Among The Rural Malays In North Malaysia, The Internet Journal of Third World Medicine, Volume 9, Number 1
Isa A. Rahman, R. Shuib, and Othman M. Shukri, ‘The practice of female circumcision among Muslims in Kelantan, Malaysia’, Reproductive Health Matters 7 (13): 137–144, 1999.
Activists:
Azrul Mohamad Khalib speaks to Connect Asia about female circumcision in Malaysia, ABC News, Australia,
Azrul Mohamad Khalib, Wrong to cut our girls, The Malaysian Insider, December 3, 2012
Malaysian activists want female circumcision banned, ABC News Australia,
Sisters in Islam: NGOs bring up human rights issues in meeting with Obama, Sun Daily, 29 April 2014
Sisters in Islam: Female Circumcision Widely Practiced in Malaysia, Asia Calling TV, 3 Jun 2013