The Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union, the highest Muslim authority in Iraqi Kurdistan for religious pronouncements and rulings, issued a fatwa or religious edict last month. This would not have been particularly newsworthy, except that this particular fatwa stated that "female circumcision" is not an Islamic practice.
While the fatwa did not forbid the practice, known to the world as female genital mutilation, its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. The practice is not mentioned in the Quran, and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam. Until last month, the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union had not joined those ranks.
Many women in Kurdistan told Human Rights Watch researchers that they believed they had a religious obligation to take their daughters for genital cutting, as documented in the recent report, "They Took Me and Told Me Nothing." The fatwa will help dispel that belief and should begin to lead to a reduction of the practice in the name of Islam.
But it's not all good news yet. The fatwa does not explicitly ban female genital mutilation, and the failure to prohibit it altogether remains troubling because parents may still decide to subject their daughters to this practice. Female Genital Mutilation has been internationally recognized as a harmful traditional practice that is medically unnecessary and irreversible, causing immediate and long-term health consequences. These consequences may include immediate pain, trauma from undergoing the procedure, haemorrhaging, and numerous other physical, mental, and sexual health effects later in life.
Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and even older sisters make arrangements with the village midwife to cut the girls in the family. Fathers often view genital cutting as a prerequisite for maintaining their girls' purity and honor, but they play a less active role in making these preparations. Nevertheless a young woman told Human Rights Watch that she and her sisters are protecting their youngest sister. "Gola" said that every time her father asks if his youngest daughter has been taken for genital cutting, they pretend that she has.
According to the 2006/2007 Iraqi Family Health Survey Report (IFHS) conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 43.3 percent of women in Iraqi Kurdistan cannot read or write. The majority of women interviewed by Human Rights Watch in several villages in northern Iraq only completed six years of primary school education. Our interviews revealed that some women were completely unaware of the serious and sometimes deadly consequences associated with female genital mutilation.
Others told us that they found out about the dangers far too late. They told Human Rights Watch that had they been warned earlier, they would have not forced their young girls to undergo this procedure. Other girls told us that their mothers still feel a sense of resentment for having succumbed to social pressures to mutilate their girls, but at that time, they said, the mothers did not know the harm it could cause.
Girls and women in Kurdistan need to be made aware that the highest Muslim authority in Kurdistan has said that genital cutting is not prescribed in Islam. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should make sure that this important religious pronouncement is disseminated throughout the region and especially in distant, rural areas - places where, ministers admit, it is a common practice. The regional government should also ensure that accurate health information about the dangers of this practice is disseminated throughout the region.
Legislation to ban the practice should be a priority. A law against genital cutting will be understood by Kurds as a significant declaration by lawmakers in the Kurdistan National Assembly (parliament) that a practice that harms girls and women is no longer tolerated in Kurdistan and that Kurdish girls and women deserve to live lives free from violence and pain.
A law banning genital cutting will also deter families from continuing to take their daughters to have the procedure done and will deter midwives from performing it. A legal ban should also ensure that girls and women who have undergone this harmful procedure receive the medical and psychological care they need.
Traditional midwives should be provided with alternative income generation opportunities, and they should become part of the efforts to eliminate the practice. Legislation to ban this practice, along with the fatwa, should give whole communities the strength to declare their homes, villages, and towns free of female genital mutilation once and for all.
The Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union, the highest Muslim authority in Iraqi Kurdistan for religious pronouncements and rulings, issued a fatwa or religious edict last month. This would not have been particularly newsworthy, except that this particular fatwa stated that "female circumcision" is not an Islamic practice.
While the fatwa did not forbid the practice, known to the world as female genital mutilation, its clear and unequivocal statement that the practice is not required by Islam was significant for women in Kurdistan, where the practice is widespread. The practice is not mentioned in the Quran, and many other Muslim scholars have disassociated the practice from Islam. Until last month, the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars Union had not joined those ranks.
Many women in Kurdistan told Human Rights Watch researchers that they believed they had a religious obligation to take their daughters for genital cutting, as documented in the recent report, "They Took Me and Told Me Nothing." The fatwa will help dispel that belief and should begin to lead to a reduction of the practice in the name of Islam.
But it's not all good news yet. The fatwa does not explicitly ban female genital mutilation, and the failure to prohibit it altogether remains troubling because parents may still decide to subject their daughters to this practice. Female Genital Mutilation has been internationally recognized as a harmful traditional practice that is medically unnecessary and irreversible, causing immediate and long-term health consequences. These consequences may include immediate pain, trauma from undergoing the procedure, haemorrhaging, and numerous other physical, mental, and sexual health effects later in life.
Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and even older sisters make arrangements with the village midwife to cut the girls in the family. Fathers often view genital cutting as a prerequisite for maintaining their girls' purity and honor, but they play a less active role in making these preparations. Nevertheless a young woman told Human Rights Watch that she and her sisters are protecting their youngest sister. "Gola" said that every time her father asks if his youngest daughter has been taken for genital cutting, they pretend that she has.
According to the 2006/2007 Iraqi Family Health Survey Report (IFHS) conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 43.3 percent of women in Iraqi Kurdistan cannot read or write. The majority of women interviewed by Human Rights Watch in several villages in northern Iraq only completed six years of primary school education. Our interviews revealed that some women were completely unaware of the serious and sometimes deadly consequences associated with female genital mutilation.
Others told us that they found out about the dangers far too late. They told Human Rights Watch that had they been warned earlier, they would have not forced their young girls to undergo this procedure. Other girls told us that their mothers still feel a sense of resentment for having succumbed to social pressures to mutilate their girls, but at that time, they said, the mothers did not know the harm it could cause.
Girls and women in Kurdistan need to be made aware that the highest Muslim authority in Kurdistan has said that genital cutting is not prescribed in Islam. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should make sure that this important religious pronouncement is disseminated throughout the region and especially in distant, rural areas - places where, ministers admit, it is a common practice. The regional government should also ensure that accurate health information about the dangers of this practice is disseminated throughout the region.
Legislation to ban the practice should be a priority. A law against genital cutting will be understood by Kurds as a significant declaration by lawmakers in the Kurdistan National Assembly (parliament) that a practice that harms girls and women is no longer tolerated in Kurdistan and that Kurdish girls and women deserve to live lives free from violence and pain.
A law banning genital cutting will also deter families from continuing to take their daughters to have the procedure done and will deter midwives from performing it. A legal ban should also ensure that girls and women who have undergone this harmful procedure receive the medical and psychological care they need.
Traditional midwives should be provided with alternative income generation opportunities, and they should become part of the efforts to eliminate the practice. Legislation to ban this practice, along with the fatwa, should give whole communities the strength to declare their homes, villages, and towns free of female genital mutilation once and for all.
