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News | Book Publications & Media | Upcoming Events![]() Site faceliftPosted On: Dec 31 2012
After 17 years being online, this website is finally receiving a facelift with many new features, articles, resources, and network information. If you would like to add your name to the list of websites or resources/organizations, please let me know, and I will be happy to add you to the list. You may email me from following the Contact Link: http://www.fgmnetwork.org/mail/index.php The new website should be launched in the next two weeks, so please stay tuned for details! Best, Dr. Marianne Sarkis, Director KENYA: Mbeere District Schoolgirls Circumcised SecretelyPosted On: Dec 16 2011
BY Reuben Githinji HUMAN rights lobby groups in Embu have raised concern over the violation of the rights of school-going children in Embu by their parents and grandparents in secretly circumcising them. The human rights groups asked the government through the provincial administration to ensure secret Female Genital Mutilation is stamped out. They said the worst hit area is Mbeere North and South districts where girls are usually circumcised during holidays. Secretary to the Embu Urban Local Forum Mary Wawira Njue, a consortium of local civil society in Embu county said the practice is negatively affecting the girls' education. She said her organisation is creating awareness on the irrelevance and dangers of the practice to end it. She said incidents of the practice come to the fore only when an operation aborts or becomes soar. She cited the case of a 12-year-old girl who was recently admitted at the Embu Provincial General Hospital bleeding from a circumcision exercise gone soar. The standard six girl who had visited her great grandmother at Ishiara in Mbeere North district was allegedly forced by the great-grandmother to undergo the ritual. Wawira at the same time decried the increase in bhang trafficking, abuse of drugs and illicit drinks in the area among youth. She said within this month alone bhang worth millions of shillings had been recovered by police in Embu town and Kamiu where a farmer was found growing it. Wawira said even as the local youth fight for their rights they should do so by being responsible in their behaviours. She blamed much of the woes affecting the youth to poor leadership from local leaders. She called on the local leaders to ensure they lead in establishment of local industries which are lacking in the area.
SOURCE: AllAfrica.com KENYA: It is the high season for circumcision as the new law against FGM fails to bitePosted On: Dec 16 2011
By PETER MWAURA Posted Friday, December 16 2011 at 20:00 In most communities in Kenya, this is the high season for circumcision for both boys and girls. The law, however, prohibits female circumcision and lays down harsh punishment for offenders. But that has not stopped communities from circumcising their girls. The reason is very simple: Laws that do not fit into the social system are like square pegs in round holes, and most of the time they are disobeyed, ignored or conveniently forgotten. The law against female circumcision, the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, is just such law, as illustrated by a story published in the Daily Nation of December 8. The story carried the headline “Villagers ignore the law and go on girl circumcision frenzy”. SOMALIA: MPs summon Puntland Ministers on FGM motionPosted On: Dec 15 2011
GAROWE, Somalia Dec 13 2011 (Garowe Online) - Some Members of Parliament agreed to summon four ministers in Puntland State of Somalia due to a motion that has been regarded controversial that banned Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Puntland, Radio Garowe reports. Puntland MPs met in the capital Garowe today to discuss summoning four Puntland Ministers that they felt broke certain religious rights of Muslims when they had passed a motion to ban FGM in Puntland. UGANDA: Rights Activists Push for FGM EndPosted On: Dec 15 2011
Kapchorwa — Human rights activists have called upon the East Africa bloc to honour the commitment to end female genital mutilation, describing it as a discriminatory and a harmful practice to girls. While addressing delegates from Kenya and Uganda and traditionalists at the 12th Sebei Culture Day celebrations on Monday held at Sebei College Tegeres, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, said ending FGM is crucial to the success of two of the Millennium Development Goals: Improving maternal health and promoting gender equality.
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![]() BOOK: Girl with Three Legs by Soraya MirePosted On: Dec 16 2011
The Girl with Three Legs by Soraya MireWhen Soraya Miré was thirteen years old, the girls on the playground would taunt her, saying she could not play with them—not as long as she walked with three legs. Confused and hurt, she went to her mother, who mysteriously responded that the time had come for Soraya to receive her gift. Miré too soon discovers the horror of the “gift,” female genital mutilation (FGM), whereby a young girl’s healthy organs are chopped off not only to make her acceptable to a future husband but also to rein in her “wildness.” In The Girl with Three Legs, Soraya Miré reveals what it means to grow up in a traditional Somali family, where girls’ and women’s basic human rights are violated on a daily basis. A victim of FGM and an arranged marriage to an abusive cousin, Miré was also witness to the instability of Somalia’s political landscape: her father was a general for the military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, and her family moved in the inner circles of Somalia’s elite. In her journey to recover from the violence done to her, Miré realizes FGM is the ultimate child abuse, a ritual of mutilation handed down from mother to daughter and protected by the word “culture.” DOWNLOADABLE FILM: The CutPosted On: Sep 05 2009
The Cut: A Documentary“The Cut” is a short documentary about Mary (14 years old) and Alice (early 20’s) from Kenya. Both are affected by the traditional rite of passage into womanhood: genital cutting.Mary and her community are preparing for her ceremonial cutting. Alice is studying to be a social worker to work against female genital mutilation. As the first in her community to refuse the practice, she has paid a high price for her choice to break with tradition. Alice tells of the different myths she encounters in the community around her, as to why circumcision is practiced. Mary, on the other hand, has no voice. She just goes through the preparations and rituals in silence. Director: Linda May Kallestein Photographer: Justo N. Casal Editor: Trine Nordmark Børstad PUBLICATION: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting - UNFPA ReportPosted On: Aug 17 2009
Global Consultation on Female Genital Mutilation/CuttingAuthor: UNFPANo. of pages: 112 Publication date: 2009 Publisher: UNFPA Available languages: English ISBN: 978-0-89714-901-3 Download PDF This publication contains rich research findings concerning global trends and the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting and its linkages with maternal and newborn health. It describes changing patterns and practices, including medicalization, and analyzes the threat FGM/C poses to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals as well as its economic and health costs. It identifies important lessons and discusses in detail case studies as well as the application of theories as a basis for accelerating the abandonment process. It also addresses the needs for closing gaps in law enforcement, building capacity, mobilizing resources and building global partnerships. This extensive knowledge -- which was shared by research institutions, foundations, lawyers, medical professionals, religious scholars, development partners and NGOs -- would be difficult to find elsewhere.
Read More News![]() Site faceliftPosted On: Dec 31 2012
After 17 years being online, this website is finally receiving a facelift with many new features, articles, resources, and network information. If you would like to add your name to the list of websites or resources/organizations, please let me know, and I will be happy to add you to the list. You may email me from following the Contact Link: http://www.fgmnetwork.org/mail/index.php The new website should be launched in the next two weeks, so please stay tuned for details! Best, Dr. Marianne Sarkis, Director CALL FOR PAPERS: September 7- 8, 2007: The 4th FOKO Conference - Female Genital Cutting in the Past (FINLAND)Posted On: Nov 30 2006
Call for Papers USA: Brooklyn, NY: 12/14/2006 - A Day of A.W.E.: African Women's Empowerment: female genital mutilation and domestic violence-myths, norms and clarityPosted On: Nov 30 2006
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