Home » Posts tagged 'Middle East'

Tag Archives: Middle East

Categories

Emirates Women: FGM In The Middle East | Investigating Cutting Customs

2015/04/30 9:38 AM

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…)

Bold Talks Women 2014, Dubai: Combating Female Genital Mutilation

2014/06/16 12:30 PM

Hannah Wettig, the project coordinator of Stop FGM Middle East, held a lecture at Bold Talks Women Dubai on May 31, 2014.

(more…)

Open Democracy: Embracing shame: turning honour on its head

2014/02/18 6:07 PM

14 February 2014. The challenge that embracing shame poses to the longstanding perversion of honour, is the struggle for women’s human rights –  the realisation of which will result in the entire community’s advancement and healing.

The social construct and custom of honour maintains order for many societies in the middle east and Africa, south and central Asia, and the worldwide diaspora of these diverse communities. A woman, the physical manifestation of honour, embodies this involuntary burden through her every day actions and decisions – or lack thereof – from the moment she takes her first breath until the day she dies. (more…)

The Lancet: FGM in the Middle East

2013/12/17 8:59 PM

13.12.2013. The renown science magazine “The Lancet” acknowledges on its editor’s page that FGM exists beyond Africa. Under the title “Female genital mutilation in the Middle East” Farrokh Habibzadeh affirms:

“FGM is mainly practised in Africa but is also done in other regions. For example, the prevalence of this procedure is very high in Iraqi Kurdistan. Saleem and colleagues reported that 23% of more than 1500 girls with a mean age of almost 14 years from Iraqi Kurdistan had had FGM, at a mean age of 5 years. FGM is also common in Iranian Kurdistan and Egypt where the procedure is prohibited by law.”
This is a good step ahead even if there are still many countries missing in the list.