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Putting the spotlight back on FGM in the Middle East – Wadi at the Women Deliver Conference 2026
. A representative from Wadi joined the Women Deliver 2026 Conference in Australia to discuss the ongoing campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Iraqi-Kurdistan and the broader Middle East.
A few weeks ago, Wadi joined thousands of advocates in Melbourne, Australia for Women Deliver 2026. It was a week defined by global solidarity, but for us, it was also a vital opportunity to bring attention to the continued lack of visibility surrounding Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East—a region that remains frequently overlooked in global discourse. Our goal throughout the four-day event was to create dialogue with other experts, organizations, networks, and institutions – to move past misconceptions and focus on evidence-based solutions. We were able to share highlights of over 25 years of experience leading a successful project that has lowered FGM rates in Iraqi Kuridistan dramatically.
We also wanted to engage with other organisations working in similar contexts to gain insights on their good practices and approaches to ending the practice while also respecting the complex cultural and religious contexts of each region. Our goal was also to speak to the future and to highlight the challenge it is for us to work in these countries when institutional donors are not prioritizing this issue in the Middle East and Asia. We know through small activist or medical studies that so many areas are in urgent need of funding for research and advocacy efforts, but also in need of international support, and high level advocacy at the governmental level that small NGOs and CSOs cannot access.
Beyond the Spotlight: FGM in Under-Represented Regions
Our participation began April 26 with the all day pre-conference event, “United for Action: Global Solidarity to End FGM/C.” Isis Elgibali, who has been working to bring the forward the urgent need to spotlight FGM in the Middle East at a European and International level was honored to speak on a panel alongside Professor Angela Dawson and Sean Callaghan, moderated by Warda Warsame.
The core of Wadi’s message is urgent: We cannot end what we refuse to see.
Wadi started the END FGM Middle East and Asia Campaign in 2013 to change the narrative, collect data, and bring global attention to the reality, now in 2026 there has been some movement on the issue, but we are falling very far short of having real change, as there is almost no recognition of the reality. There are many countries where we have an idea, or there have been small scale activist research, or hospital led studies, but in general many governments prefer to minimize this topic, or a mild admission when activists make breakthrough studies, but then there is no country wide research, or national action plan.Certain countries have in the past 10 years updated their child protection laws, withough mention of FGM directly, instead using broad terms like ‘unnecessary harm’ leaving serious loopholes. Many of these communities are at the very beginning of their journey facing this complex topic. And some countries have really shown that they are willing to work on things, but if the pressure is not coming organically from within their societies then change will always be sort of half-hearted. Wadi stressed the need to support both financially and with technical knowledge the organic movements that exist in each affected country.
There continues to be in some Middle Eastern countries the narrative that FGM is often dismissed as an “immigrant problem”, an ‘imported practice’ labels. But the reality is that In the UAE: A 2011 survey found a 34% prevalence rate among Emirati women. While state hospitals have banned the practice, a lack of nationwide surveys and legal loopholes means the practice persists in private clinics, potentially turning the region into a “medicalization hub” for the diaspora. In Saudi Arabia & Kuwait: Despite long-standing denials, a 2019 study in Jeddah showed an 18% prevalence rate among local women. In Kuwait, small-scale studies from the mid 2010s have suggested rates as high as 38%, yet official action remains stagnant.
In Oman local activists have challenged for years the perception that FGM is rare in Oman, revealing prevalence rates between 78% and 95% in certain governorates like Dakhiliyah. Although the government clarified the 2014 Child Law in 2019 to prohibit the practice, the lack of recent, large-scale national data remains a primary hurdle in implementing these legal protections effectively.
In Iran activists continue to report that FGM is practiced in specific provinces, at great risk to their personal safety they continue to support awareness raising in those communities. In Iraq, while the Kurdistan Region (KRG) has made strides, recent shifts in personal status laws in central Iraq—including the legalization of child marriage by the parliment in Baghdad—represent a significant setback for the rights of women and children.
So these small examples spotlight the continued need for comprehensive data collection to pinpoint what is happening, where and to whom, as a very first step.
The Kurdistan Journey – A Potential Model
In a second panel moderated by Orchid Project, “Data Driven Change: Closing the Data Gap to End FGM in Asia,” Ms Elgibali had the opportunity to share Wadi’s long-term work in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG). The other panelists were Dr. Bodiroza UNFPA, Ms. Kamanga-Njikho UNICEF, Dr Pambudi Ministry of Health Malaysia, and Ms Cowan DFAT Australia.
Wadi’s journey began in 2004, not by leading with FGM, but by providing literacy courses and basic medical information. By creating safe spaces for education, we built the trust necessary for women to begin sharing their personal experiences. This “bottom-up” approach allowed us to move from anecdotal evidence to systematic, periodic data collection, which led to enough social pressure to advocate for a law banning the practice, which the KRG parliament passed in 2011. For an in-depth look at our journey we ask you to read our booklet.
In the panel Wadi talked about the power of activist or local NGO or medical clinic based data collection, the impact of the bottom up approach, and the community ownership of the issue have been key tools in the success of our strategy. Change is much less effective when it is imposed in a ‘top-down’ approach, and while having a law banning the practice was essential, Wadi shared the impact of its non-punitive positive community based, long-term engagement and the success that it has brought in lowering the effective FGM rate in one generation, and that two regions are now declared ‘FGM Free’. Wadi wanted to emphasize the need for more cooperation in South-South cooperation and sharing of effective approaches, as well as the need to include religious clerics, and meet affected communities ‘where they are’ both physically as many women do not have the ability to travel freely, and in a cultural and religious context. Wadi also directly asked for UNICEF and UNFPA to continue supporting these efforts, and that they as international institutions advocate for the urgency of funding, support, resources, and provide advocacy at the government level for the Middle East region.
Building Global Bridges
Networking at Women Deliver was a meaningful experience that went beyond just exchanging cards; it’s about building a “South-South” cooperation that respects local contexts.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the event was the opportunity for “South-South” cooperation. Meeting with the Indonesian Women Ulama reinforced a key Wadi principle: we must work with religious communities, not against them. Acknowledging the complexity of religion and engaging with religious councils is the only way to reach those we wish to uplift. By speaking with clerics and community leaders with respect, we can foster a shared commitment to the health of girls. We agreed that the ongoing narrative in some academic western contexts that continue to say ‘religion plays no role’ is not particularly helpful neither in the Middle Eastern nor in the Asian context. While FGM is not in the Quran, we must engage with religious councils to address the clerics who support it. Respectful engagement—not alienation—is the only way forward.
We also looked toward the Asia Network as a potential blueprint for a future Middle East network. Their success in building multi-country cooperation over the last few years shows what is possible when we share resources and strategies. We hope to replicate their model to restart the STOP FGM Middle East Campaing and hopefully create a network within the next few years. The network in cooperation with Orchid Project pledged their support, as we work on this topic. A real positive step, and we look forward to working with and learning from one another.
Ms Elgibali with support from END FM EU also met with the Victoria Sexual Assault/Crimes Unit in Australia. Who expressed their interest in learning about which communities could be affected and they expressed their interest in training – or awareness sessions to better support Iranian and other Middle Eastern immigrant communities.
Looking Ahead
Our journey doesn’t end in Melbourne. One of the most significant outcomes of Women Deliver was the renewed synergy with partners like the Orchid Project. By joining forces and leveraging our collective expertise, we are energized to work toward a common goal: restarting the STOP FGM Middle East campaign.
We are leaving Australia with a clear vision—to turn these global connections into local action, restart our regional advocacy, and ensure that every girl is seen. This issue continues to struggle not just for international attention but also for financial support, you can support these efforts here.
Wadi’s participation in the Women Deliver 2026 Conference was supported by Orchid Project.
Oman bans unexpectedly Female Genital Mutilation
30.9.2019. Two weeks ago, the Omani Ministry of Social Affairs und Development announced a change in the law protecting children. Now, the convention of the child includes a specific prohibition of female genital mutilation (FGM). This change in law came as a surprise to most observers. (more…)
FGM Worldwide, It’s Worse Than You Think
25.11.2018. By Dr. John Chua
On the 15th of November, the UK Government hosted the world’s experts on Female Genital Mutilation at an international conference. The keynote speech by the UK’s Home Secretary suggests a celebratory tone in acknowledging the successful reduction of FGM in Africa. Indeed, the UK in 2013 made the most generous commitment ever by a single donor to end FGM, with a focus on Africa, resulting in the successes we see now. While commendable, the primary focus on Africa is not new and has meant many other countries are largely ignored.
In 2008, the UK Border Agency published a list of countries where females are at-risk of being subjected to FGM. With only African countries listed, this was for them an African issue. Migrants from these countries could be subjected to investigations or interrogations by officials regarding FGM.
Among many experts, the dominant theory suggests FGM came from Africa thousands of years ago, was later adopted by some Islamic sects and spreads around the world through migration. In Britain, thousands of FGM cases among migrants are recorded each year although there is yet no successful prosecution and conviction.
But the reality is FGM is not just an African problem. The country with the largest number of FGM survivors and at-risk girls is not even African. It is Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.
As someone who spent nearly a decade travelling worldwide to investigate and research FGM, the truth about this human rights abuse is worse than you might imagine. I’ve found FGM in the cartel land of Mexico, Russian Caucasus, Peruvian Amazon, war zones in Iraq, cosmopolitan Singapore, and even suburban America. FGM, done for different reasons in each place, is a native practice in every continent, except Antarctica.
My work on FGM began almost by accident when I went to Iraq to train journalists and found the NGO Wadi trying to document FGM exists in Iraqi Kurdistan. The West, then still associating FGM with Africa, was shocked to learn of this.
In Iraq, I partnered with Wadi, and produced a few investigative documentaries for The Guardian and BBC that exposed the extent of this problem in Kurdistan. To their credit, the activists at Wadi played a major role in getting FGM outlawed in Kurdistan, and within a few short years, the majority of Kurdish Iraqis turned against FGM.
In 2013, I thought my job was done. But through Wadi, I met other activists working to end FGM. At first, they were the ones in countries adjacent to Iraq, specifically Iran, Saudi Arabia and Oman. I started interviewing them and eventually, I went further afield, first to Malaysia, then the Pattani region in Thailand, and to Singapore. In all these places, FGM is a taboo subject but through sheer determination I was able to talk to cutters, survivors and activists. In Singapore, I surveyed 116 Muslim women and 86 of them were FGM survivors.
Although I am British, I was born in Singapore and to my dismay, people there I have known most of my life are impacted by FGM. I even recorded video of medical staff in Singapore offering to cut my nonexistent British daughter.
In fact, in many parts of the world, FGM is found in medical settings, with parents erroneously thinking it would be ‘safer’ if done in a clinic. Two years ago a teenage girl died after undergoing FGM in an Egyptian clinic.
In a special report, I met and interviewed a gynaecologist in Dagestan, Russia who truly believes in the medical ‘benefits’ of FGM. In Detroit last year, doctors belonging to the Dawoodi-Bohra Muslim sect were arrested for performing FGM.
But this isn’t new; there is a long history of doctors performing FGM. In the mid-1800s, some British doctors recommended cutting the clitoris to cure many sicknesses. Dr. Isaac Baker Brown, the president of the Medical Society of London, published his 1866 treatise On the Curability of Certain Forms of Insanity, Epilepsy, Catalepsy, and Hysteria in Females, prescribing clitoridectomy for a number of illnesses.
These ideas took hold in the United States for a number of decades, well into the twentieth century. While American families would generally not talk about female genital cutting and the exact number of such operations is unknown, there is ample evidence that some white Christian women were subjected to FGM.
For nearly a century, American medical texts and doctors taught female circumcision and clitoridectomy and Christian books make positive reference to the procedure as a cure for masturbation, even as late as the 1960s. One such book by a former dean of a medical school is still for sale on a church’s website.
I managed to track down a white Christian FGM survivor and convinced her to go public with her story. For many decades Dr. Rene Bergstrom kept her story a secret, afraid that publicising it would upset her family. (Her mother, concerned that she was masturbating, found a doctor to cut her when she was three.)
Together we released her story first at The Guardian and then later as the main subject in a short film, which won a prize on PBS’s To The Contrary and aired across the United States in late 2017. After the TV broadcast, a few white Christian FGM survivors contact us. Like Renee, all of them thought they were alone in having survived FGM, as they have never heard about it happening to any other white people they know.
In the Americas, FGM is not just in the United States. The Emberás of Panama and Colombia practice FGM. We would not have known about it had not the death of young girls from the cutting in 2007 caught the attention of the wider world.
As explained in an interview I conducted with an Emberá activist and with the UN in Colombia, they believed that cutting the clitoris would prevent it from becoming a penis. Furthermore, one prevailing theory is that African slaves bought the cutting tradition to the new world.
But I’m suspicious of this out-of-Africa theory and as I discovered, FGM is also found among many other tribes in Colombia. How could African slaves have influenced such a large area of the country? FGM is indigenous to South America and I found the proof in Amazonian Peru.
For centuries the Shipibo tribe had elaborate ceremonies celebrating the genital cutting of teenage girls. While these practices have stopped in recent years, the artefacts used for the cutting have been radiocarbon dated to a time before the arrival of Columbus. Meanwhile other South American tribes like the Secoya and Kaxinawá reportedly still practice FGM, and their remote locations make outreach and studies difficult.
Recently I have completed a feature length documentary by combining all the footage I have shot around the globe. But my research is incomplete; it will take many more people to comprehensively investigate and document FGM worldwide.
For example, I have heard a story that some Nahuas in Mexico cut the genitals of young girls. This remains to be proven. But in Juárez, Mexico for the last two decades, cartel serial killers kidnap young women and after sexual and genital mutilation, dump their bodies as a warning to others.
Hundreds if not thousands of women have been killed. Despite the arrests and convictions of the supposed killers, the femicide continues. On a recent visit to Juárez, I saw first hand how the missing women impact the psyche of the city.
After watching masked police officers patrol Juárez’s streets and seeing arrests on street corners in the ‘war on drugs’, I read that in many parts of Mexico, the authorities are accused of torturing arrested women with electric shocks to their genitals, which could cause burns which fit Type IV FGM. Clearly FGM is used to instil fear in the population.
Just a few years ago, FGM experts and friends felt my attempt to document FGM around the world was a fool’s errand. I can’t explain why I did it, as I never expected to come this far.
But I’ve learned this. While FGM is found across many ethnic groups and religions, with each assigning a different ‘reason’ for its practice, underneath their irrational explanations lie a universal mad urge to control the female body, sexuality and behaviour.
Formulating government policies to end FGM require knowledge of the facts and sadly, there is still so much the world doesn’t know about FGM. I suspect the UK will continue to focus primarily on ending FGM in Africa or where they might realistically achieve the best results. I simply can’t imagine the British Government stepping in to stop FGM in places like southern Iraq or even friendly countries such as Oman or Singapore.
But as I have also learned in northern Iraq, it takes individuals standing up to end this scourge. You could very well be situated close to someone affected by FGM. It takes all of us exposing FGM globally to end it.
Dr. John Chua’s feature film Cut: Exposing FGM Worldwide screens at Terre des Femmes Film Festival in Germany on 24th of November, ahead of its global release by Gravitas Ventures, the film distribution subsidiary of the German TV network ProSiebenSat.1.
New Study: Almost 100 percent women mutilated in region of Oman – Time to act!
23.8.2018. The newest survey on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Oman bears shocking results: 95,5 percent of women reported to be mutilated. For the survey 200 women of different ages and educational backgrounds were interviewed in the governorate of Dakhiliyah during the last three months of 2017. (more…)
Hormozgan, Iran: Meetings with scholars on FGM
26.10.2017. By Rayehe Mozafarian
After numerous reports on FGM in Hormozgan by various associations and publishing materials, finally one of the provincial governors of Hormozgan acknowledged the problem and announced to act:
Director General of the Office of Social and Cultural Affairs of Hormozgan Governorate has stated that we will have meetings with scholars on FGM of girls. (more…)
Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM: Progress in Asia
Press release by WADI / Stop FGM Middle East & Asia
February 6th 2017. On the seventh official International Day of Zero Tolerance to female genital mutilation (FGM), it has been 13 years, that WADI first brought the issue FGM happening in Asia, in this case Iraq, to the international agenda. In this last decade WADI’s campaign against FGM in Iraq has yielded great success as a recent study by the Heartland Alliance in cooperation with Unicef and the High Council of Women Affairs shows. The rates of FGM in Northern Iraq have decreased dramatically when comparing mothers and daughters. Among mothers surveyed 44,8% reported to be cut compared to 10,7% of their daughters. The success of a comprehensive campaign becomes even more evident when looking at the figures of regions where WADI’s campaign started and has been going on since more than ten years: In the region of Halabja only 1.1% of daughters are cut today in comparison to 40% of mothers. (more…)
Heartland study shows steep decline of FGM rates in Iraqi Kurdistan
10.1.2017. By Stop FGM Middle East.
A study by the Heartland Alliance in cooperation with Unicef and the High Council of Women Affairs shows a dramatic decrease in rates of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Northern Iraq when comparing mothers and daughters. Among mothers surveyed 44,8% reported to be cut compared to 10,7% of their daughters. Results also show a direct link between campaigning and decline of rates. Religion remains a major factor among those who continue the procedure on their children.
Survey: Majority of religious leaders pro FGM in Kermansheh, Iran
11.8.2016. By Stop FGM Middle East. A recent survey among Sunni religous scholars in the Iranian province of Kermansheh shows that a majority of them (67%) believe that “female circumcision” is religiously obligatory or at least recommended for girls and women. In this province in the West of Iran, female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced by Sunni Kurds who adhere to the Shafi’i law school. Many of them believe that Islam commands them to have their girls cut. (more…)
How a religious ruling seems to have stopped FGM in the 1950s in Ahwaz, Iran
9.8.2016 By Stop FGM Middle East. Two new studies shed more light on the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Middle East. For the first time, a study explores whether FGM is practiced in Syria – and comes to the conclusion that no evidence of its existence can be found.
Another study explores the history of FGM in the region of Ahwaz in the South-Western Iranian state of Khuzestan. Through talking to older women the PhD-student Susie Latham found that FGM was common in this region but has been abandoned completely without any official program in place. Furthermore, she found that it was first replaced by a milder form before the practice was stopped entirely.
Iran: New book about FGM is distributed among health workers
5.7.2016. By Osman Mahmoudi. The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) affects Kurdish women and girls in the Iranian province of Kermanshah and continues within a complex web of social, cultural and economic justification. It is medically unnecessary and has adverse physical, sexual and psychosocial consequences. (more…)