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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…)

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…)

New religious opinions in Iran reject FGM

16.7.2015. The Iranian psychologist Osman Mahmoudi has collected the opinions of different theologists concerning female circumcision. Basing his arguments on these references he discussed with religious leaders in his predominantly Sunni hometown Javanrod in the Iranian province of Kermanshe about FGM. While before several mullahs had defended the practice as a religious necessity it now turned out that a significant number opposed it or at least saw no connection to Islam. (more…)

Campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan: Paying a visit to a Mullah who promoted FGM

20.5.2015. By Stop FGM Middle East. The shock was great when the Iraqi Kurdish Xelk Media Network reported about a Kurdish Mullah promoting female genital mutilation (FGM) on May 8th. Not only did Mullah Ali Kalak stress that Islam allows “female circumcision” but he demanded it to be done for the wellbeing of girls, claiming non-cut girls would enter illicit sexual affairs. (more…)

Video-Clip: At the mosque

By Stop FGM Middle East. 4.2.2015. Religious beliefs play an important role in the battle against Female genital mutilation (FGM). Clerics are part of the large-scale campaign against FGM in Iraqi Kurdistan. In this video-clip an Imam explains why FGM is not in accordance with Islam. It is one of four vidoe-clips shown regularly on Kurdish television as part of the campaign by WADI and Unicef. (more…)

Bold Talks Women 2014, Dubai: Combating Female Genital Mutilation

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

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Second Middle East & Asia Conference on FGM shows that new strategies are needed

16.5.2014. By Stop FGM Middle East.

On May 7th to 10th the Second Middle East & Asia Conference on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was held in Istanbul where more than thirty activists and researchers from Iraq, Egypt, Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and India met as well as representatives from UNICEF Iraq, Orchid Project (England) and Terre des Femmes (Germany). It was the second such conference organized by the German-Iraqi NGOs WADI and the Dutch NGO Hivos.

For the longest time FGM was regarded as an African problem, based on the African continent with some prevalence in neighboring countries like Yemen. This mantra was overcome only recently when WADI strated raising conscious, that FGM is also widespread in a Middle Eastern country like Iraq. In January 2012, the first conference on FGM in the Middle East was held in Beirut. In the last two years the STOP FGM Middle East Project by WADI and Hivos collected further evidence, that countries like Oman, Malaysia and Indonesia have a significant high prevalence rate of FGM. Therefore, this second conference widened the scope from the Middle East to South East Asia. (more…)