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Guardian newspaper reader’s campaign to eradicate FGM

Guardian newspaper reader’s campaign to eradicate FGM

‘It is thought there are about 130 million girls and women globally who have experienced female genital mutilation, and that perhaps 30 million girls and young women around the world are still subjected to FGM every year.  UNICEF reports (Feb. 2013) that more than 90 per cent of women aged 15–49 years have been cut in Egypt (91%), Djibouti (93%), Guinea (96%) and Somalia (98%)…;

In 2008 AkiDwA produced the first initial statistical extrapolation of the prevalence of FGM in Ireland  This was done by using Irish 2006 census data from the Central Statistics Office and synthesising it with global FGM prevalence data. A figure of 2,585 women living in Ireland who had undergone FGM was estimated. This figure was updated in 2010 and in 2013 after the 2011 census and there are currently estimated to be 3,780 women living in Ireland who have undergone FGM. The most recent data has shown that despite a decline in inward migration to Ireland the figure of the prevalence of FGM in Ireland continues to increase.

After a decade of campaigning and lobbying, the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2012 was signed into law in April 2012, and became effective in September 2012. The Act creates an innovative offence of removal from the State of a girl for the purpose of FGM. Punishment is up to 14 years imprisonment and/or a fine; for a summary conviction, the penalty is a fine of up to €5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both (source: www.akidwa.ie).

 

 

“I hear FGM calms a woman down”

End FGM now. Let’s talk openly, educate & eradicate FGM

Justice Brief

A young man in Britain from an FGM-practising community uttered the words in the title of this post.  This is the full account of what he said:

“I hear if you take it off, it calms the person down. It keeps her calm. Rather than her being a supermarket that’s open to everyone.  She’s cooled out.”

Three things immediately arise from this comment.  First, that FGM is unquestionably about the social and sexual control of women.  Second, that attitudes in the UK as well as attitudes in countries of origin must be changed.  Finally, and as the programme says, men have got to be part of the conversation.

Anyone who has the slightest doubt whether FGM is a serious risk to young women and girls in the UK at this very moment needs to watch this video.

To watch –>> video

#stopFGM

Related articles

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Behind every one of these doors we keep a human being

Indeed here in Ireland there has been a huge increase in the number of women sent to prison for non-payment of fines. Read more via the journal: http://jrnl.ie/1185117
Is it really more cost effective for society to incarcerate women?

Justice Brief

We need to look hard at prisons.  We may not want to.  We may prefer to look away.  But we need to look at prisons because our prisons are mirrors in which we see dimly reflected ourselves – as a community; what we are prepared to do to others; what we are prepared to have done to others.  Unless we are ready to contest and challenge it.

When we look at the picture that accompanies this post, what do we see?  A prison corridor.  In many ways an unremarkable prison corridor.  But if we stand back for just one moment, it is in actual fact an extraordinarily remarkable corridor because behind every one of those doors we keep a human being.  When the import of this simple but overwhelmingly powerful thought strikes us, it is worth repeating: behind every one of those doors we keep another human being.  This is…

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FGM: 13 reasons given for genitally mutilating young women & girls

Justice Brief

  1. ƒIt brings status and respect to the girl.
  2. It preserves a girl’s virginity/chastity.
  3. It is part of being a woman.
  4. It is a rite of passage.
  5. It gives a girl social acceptance, especially for marriage.
  6. It upholds the family honour.
  7. It cleanses and purifies the girl.
  8. It gives the girl and her family a sense of belonging to the community.
  9. It fulfils a religious requirement believed to exist.
  10. It perpetuates a custom/tradition.
  11. It helps girls and women to be clean and hygienic.
  12. It is cosmetically desirable.
  13. It is mistakenly believed to make childbirth safer for the infant.

For more, read the multi-agency guidelines on FGM–>> guidelines

Please:

  • speak out against FGM
  • sign the anti-FGM petitions
  • get involved in campaigning
  • simply tell someone else about it.

Thank you.

Related articles

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women like parties. Except political ones!

women like parties. Except political ones!

Great article written by Yvonne Galligan & Marcella Corsi (click on link above for further read)

“Women, on average, have less trust in governments and less interest in politics than men. They do not join parties to the same extent as men, but they do participate in civic and associational life, and seem to prefer different channels in expressing their participation. How to improve their political engagement?

“It is important to recognise the valuable contribution that diverse perspectives can bring to public issues. In this regard, women’s views on, and engagement with, policy and politics at all levels can contribute to the collective resolution of public issues.  Thus, actions that promote women’s participation are necessary, given women’s different pattern of public activism to that of men. All public bodies, at all levels, should be encouraged to adopt strategies to enable women’s voices in their diversity to be heard, and women to participate and be represented, in their deliberations.“

@DexterDiasQC interviewed about FGM by TheStudentLawyer.com

International day of Elimination of violence to women and girls begins 25 November – 10 December 2013. End FGM now. Help raise awareness and prevent violence to women and girls.

Justice Brief

On 11 November, 2013

 Shannon Revel interviews Garden Court Chambers’ Dexter Dias QC about his research into the issue of female genital mutilation and his campaign for raising awareness about this crime.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a customary practice that is prevalent worldwide. It is described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be:

Procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Dexter Dias QC is a barrister from Garden Court Chambers in London. Dias is conducting research at Cambridge and Harvard into elements of social control. His initial research subject was the use of pain to control children in the UK prisons, but he is now examining how the practice of FGM as an expression of masculine domination and the control of young women.

I was able to conduct an interview with Dias in…

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Olivia Robertson – Obituary

Olivia Robertson – Obituary

Here is an article from Telegraph UK about an Irish woman who lead a very interesting and indeed very extraordinary life.  ‘Olivia Robertson, who has died aged 96, was the co-founder, archpriestess and  hierophant of the Fellowship of Isis, an order devoted to the worship of the    “Divine Feminine”, which she ran from her haunted ancestral pile, Huntington   Castle (also known as Clonegal Castle), in Co Carlow, Ireland.

Click on link above to read on.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender based violence 2013

16 Days of Activism Against Gender based violence 2013

‘ An international campaign, Say No, UNiTE to end violence  that began in 1991.  From 25 November, the International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, International Human Rights Day, the campaign calls on individuals and groups around the world to act to end all forms of violence against women and girls.’

The theme for this month’s Orange Day, 25th October 2013, is ‘Safe Spaces for Women…

Orange the World in 16 Days!

The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign has proclaimed 25th of every month as “Orange Day” – a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls. Activists from around the world, governments and UN partners have organized Orange Day actions calling for safety from violence at homes, schools, work places and public spaces.

From 25 November to 10 December, we want your help to make these actions bigger, bolder, and global. We want to Orange the World in 16 Days.

This year, 16 Days of Activism is even more special for Say NO – UNiTE as it marks our next step to build our biggest momentum yet, exclusively on social media. We are counting on you to raise a tsunami of actions on the online platforms you like best. You can count on us to amplify them on social media.

Click on link for more info and ideas for your events.

UCC Watch Your Mouth Campaign

UCC Watch Your Mouth Campaign

Great poster-based campaign hosted by the UCC LGBT* Society and UCC Amnesty International Society in conjunction with the Feminist, Disability Activism, and International Development Societies with the support of UCC Students’ Union.

The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the deliberate & non-deliberate misuse of terms in everyday conversation & speech pertaining to minority groups such as LGBT, sexual assault victims, the disabled, gender, & those of other race & ethnicity.
 
Click on link to read more and support.