#NoFGM: A Listing For Action & References On Female Genital Mutilation
There should be absolutely no reason for this listing to exist; but whilst the necessity to advance the ‘No FGM in UK’ message remains, this post is offered as a way to record lobbying, and what is actually being done, to halt the risk of genital mutilation to at least two children in Britain, every hour, every day – horrifically, that’s well over 20,000 small girls in the UK p.a.. You are welcome to share in the Comments box below any information about, or actions taken to prevent, FGM in the UK.
Please tell others too that their contributions here will be very welcome.
I hope very soon that this post will no longer need to be featured on my website. To help get to that point, please if you are a UK citizen or resident sign and forward to others this e-petition, which is on the HM Government website and open until 25 June 2013:
STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM / ‘cutting’) in Britain
NB: this petition and the post below are concerned solely with FGM. There is a separate post here where Male Circumcision and related topics can be discussed.
If you have a Twitter account and would like to draw more attention to this issue, please use the hashtag #NoFGM and follow @NoFGM1. Thank you.
Please note: This post is work in progress. Many more sources of information still to be added…. please prod us via the Comments box if your particular references are not yet listed. Thank you.
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What is FGM, and why does it still happen?
Edith M.Lederer [United Nations ‘breakthrough’]: United Nations Calls For Global Ban On Female Genital Mutilation, HuffingtonPost, 26 November 2012
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Razor’s Edge – The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation [‘When culture harms the girls – the globalisation of FGM’]
Desert Flower Foundation: What is FGM?
Ye Ethiopia Goji Dirgitok Aswogaj Mahiber (EGLDAM): Practice of FGM
International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH): Responding to FGM in Europe – Striking the right balance between prosecution and prevention
Jacqueline Castledine (Mount Holyoke College): Female Genital Mutilation: An Issue of Cultural Relativism or Human Rights? [also offers a detailed list of human rights documents]
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News updates on FGM:
#NoFGM Daily News (collates all information available from UK and elsewhere; free subscription)
New York Times: Female Genital Mutilation / Cutting ‘navigator’ (wide range of listings / article summaries)
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Petitions and lobbying re: NoFGM in the UK:
HM Government e-petitions: STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM / ‘cutting’) in Britain (UK signatories, closes 25 June 2013)
Change.org: UK Government: Enforce the UK law which forbids FGM (Female Genital so-called ‘Cutting’) (international signatories)
Integrate: Provide a helpline for victims of female genital mutilation in the UK (UK, victim / potential victim support)
Avaaz: Stop female genital mutilation in the UK! (international signatories)
38Degrees.org.uk: Stop Female Genital Cutting (international signatories)
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Organisations for NoFGM solely in the UK:
The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (London based)
Project Azure (London based, Metropolitan Police)
Manor Gardens Health Advocacy (London, specifically Islington & neighbouring boroughs)
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Some NoFGM organisations extending also beyond / outside the UK:
The AHA Foundation (Ayaan Hirsi Ali)
Desert Flower Foundation (Waris Dirie)
EGLDAM (Ye Ethiopia Goji Limadawi Dirgitoch Aswogaj Mahiber, the former National Committee on Traditional Practices (NCTPE))
The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project
The Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development – FORWARD
International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (WHO: World Health Organisation, 12 February annually since 2003)
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Formal reports on FGM in the UK:
FORWARD UK A Statistical Study to Estimate the Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation in England and Wales, 2007
Desert Flower Foundation: Legal position on FGM in the UK & USA
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Official data and guidelines re: FGM in the UK:
HMG Home Office Female Genital Mutilation
HMG Department of Health: Female genital mutilation: multi-agency practice guidelines
HMG Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Female genital mutilation
Metropolitan Police: Project Azure (‘Summer is for Fun, not for Pain’)
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Other information (articles etc) re: NoFGM in the UK:
Reuters (Emma Batha): Some facts on female genital mutilation, 21 December 2012
Huffington Post (Hilary Burrage): Female Genital Mutilation Is Child Abuse Too; So Why NO Enquiries About Ignoring It?, 25 October 2012
Huffington Post (Hilary Burrage): Female Genital Mutilation: Why Does This ‘Holiday’ Horror Endure?, 17 September 2012
Heart of Glass Magazine (Harriet Bunting): Female Genital Cutting: What is it, and What are the Risks?, 29 August 2012
Huffington Post (Yvonne Ossei): Female Genital Mutilation: A Crime Against Women, 27 August 2012
Huffington Post (Ann-Marie Wilson): As Primary School Children Look Forward to the Holidays, Thousands of Young Girls Could be Facing the Summer Cutting Season, 20 July 2012
BBC News (Sue Roberts): Hidden world of female genital mutilation in the UK, 23 July 2012
Huffington Post (Hilary Burrage): Female Genital Mutilation in Britain: The Scandal About to Break… , 6 June 2012
Huffington Post (Michelle Brooks): Female Genital Mutilation: The Dangers of Social Currency, 16 May 2012
The Telegraph (Andrew Hough): Pair held by police investigating female genital mutilation in UK, 04 May 2012
The Citizen (Freddy Macha): The silent agony caused by female genital mutilation , 26 April 2012
Orchid Project (Julia): Sunday Times front page on female genital mutilation in the UK, 22 April 2012
Sharia Unveiled: More than 100,000 Girls Undergo Female Genital Mutilation in Britain Illegally Without One Conviction , 22 April 2012
New Humanist (Alice Onwordi): The cutting season: Female Genital Mutilation and the UK, Volume 126 Issue 6 November/December 2011
The Observer (Tracy McVeigh and Tara Sutton) : British girls undergo horror of genital mutilation despite tough laws, 25 July 2010
The Guardian (Rachel Williams): Female circumcision prevention post abolished by government , 30 March 2011
BBC (re: Dr Comfort Momah): ‘Rise in female genital mutilation’ in London, 22 August 2010
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Related issues (demographic and epidemiological studies of FGM, etc):
Desert Flower Foundation: Prevalence of FGM and Legal Status (countries around the world)
UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund: Q & A on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
28 Too Many: What is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and where does it happen?
World Health Organisation (WHO): Female Genital Mutilation Fact Sheet No.241, February 2012
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Cultural accounts of / apologists for FGM:
Sociological Images (Lisa Wade): A Balanced Look At Female Genital ‘Mutilation’ , 10 December 2012[NB very contentious]
BioEdge (Michael Cook): The ultimate hot potato: female genital mutilation is not as bad as it seems, 1 December 2012
Muslim Spice: Circumcision – Divine Ordainment or Genital Mutilation?, October 2012
Reproductive Health (Abdel Aziem A Ali): Knowledge and attitudes of female genital mutilation among midwives in Eastern Sudan, 28 September 2012
FrontPageAfrica online (Madanma Suakollie): Rejoinder: Banning Anti-Fgm Advocacy: The Case With Action Against FGM in Liberia, 14 August 2012
The Case Against Infant Circumcision blog (Mindofow): Female Circumcision & Health Benefits [2], 5 June 2012
Jezebel: Vibrators and Clitoridectomies: How Victorian Doctors Took Control of Women’s Orgasms, 31 May 2012
The Case Against Infant Circumcision blog (Mindofow): Truth about Female Circumcision & Health Benefits [1], 9 June 2011
Cultural Survival (Barnes-DeanVirginia Lee): Clitoridectomy and Infibulation, 17 February 2010
Women Defending Female Circumcision: Statement by African Women Are Free to Choose (AWA-FC) , Washington DC, USA, 21 February 2009
Islam Q & A (Shaykh Muhammads Al-Munajjid): Could you explain me what is the medical benefit of girl’s circumcision?
New England Journal of Medicine (Carole R. Horowitz et al): Correspondence: Female Circumcision, N Engl J Med 1995; 332:188-190 January 19, 1995 DOI: 10.1056/NEJM199501193320313
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‘Cultural’ non-harmful rite of passage alternatives to FGM:
Lillian Mitchell & Chibuzo Eke: Alternatives to Female Genital Mutilation in Western Africa
TrustLaw (Katie Nguyen): Breaking the taboo around genital cutting, 3 March 2011
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The male circumcision debate
Please go to this post to discuss issues around male circumcision, or to add further information / links:
The Other FGM Debate: Is Male Circumcision Also Child Abuse?
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Other posts on this website (by Hilary Burrage) about FGM in the UK:
Please see HERE.
Listing includes:
Female Genital Mutilation Is Child Abuse Too; So Why NO Enquiries About
Ignoring It?
Female Genital Mutilation: Why Does This ‘Holiday’ Horror Endure?
#NoFGM: A Listing For Action & References On Female Genital Mutilation (this post, just for ref.)
The Other FGM Debate: Is Male Circumcision Also Child Abuse?
HM Government e-petition on FGM rejected
FGM In Britain: Professional Culpability, Public Responsibility, Private Peril
FGM – Professional Neglect; Legitimate Moral Panic
FGM is a universal horror, not just in Britain
Women under threat world-wide (still); demand action now.
FGM (female circumcision) is illegal and cruel – and culturally challengeable everywhere
Any further information or news of action concerning NoFGM in the UK is very welcome below, as Comment. Thank you.
Please sign and forward this e-petition (for UK citizens), posted 25 June 2012 on the HM Government website and open for one year:
STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM / ‘cutting’) in Britain
If you have a Twitter account and would like to draw more attention to these issues, please use the hashtag #NoFGM and follow @NoFGM1. Thank you.
Hilary Burrage 
Reblogged this on Far be it from me –.
Thank you as ever, Judith!
Here’s a story about a couple in France who have just (May 2012) been prosecuted for FGM: Guinea: Couple to Face French Court Over Daughters’ Circumcision
Brian Harwin has kindly sent us a report (in French) of the outcome of the case. He adds:
Hi Hilary. I just emailed AHA Foundation this: [hope it is not too long and boring] Thank you!
Russell
Greeting!
In 2008 when Jabonkah Sackey asked me to write her childhood memoir, I barley knew what FGM was. Now that Jabonkah’s story has been published in October 2012, I have become active as an anti-FGM activist. A fellow FGM advocate on Safe World Community [HB] told me about AHA Foundation, because I was interested promoting education and raising awareness about FGM in America, where it seems that we are not as interested in the battle against FGM, as the rest of the world seems to be.
I’m long past being a college student, but wondered if there might be a role for Jabonkah and me in the AHA Foundation. We have a booth for the Black College Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center for February 2nd, where Jabonkah will tell some of her story in a breakout secession. We’d be happy to handout information about AHAF.
I have added at the bottom of this page a press release for DRIVING THE BIRDS. I’d be happy to send you a copy of DRIVING THE BIRDS, if so, please respond with an address.
Currently I’m reading Ms. Hirsi Ali’s story INFIDEL, as a matter of coincidence. Great book. Jabonkah is from Liberia, and she was cut by the hands of the Secret Society in 1956 at age eight. Jabonkah and I will be on a Liberian radio program this Saturday to speak our book. Wish us luck. As you know, the Secret Society remains a strong group in Liberia that of course continues to perpetuate FGM, in Jabonkah’s homeland.
My best,
Russell
Russell Traughber
Author, Driving The Birds
Shadwell Publishing
Breakthrough! >> *NSPCC FGM HELPLINE* set up today, 24 June 2013
Call: 0800 028 3550
Email: fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk
Female Genital Mutilation is child abuse. If you are worried a child may be a victim, or at risk of female genital mutilation don’t wait until you’re certain, contact the NSPCC immediately.
In the UK, people from the following communities are most at risk of FGM:
Bohra-Dawoodi (Pakistani and Indian)
Egyptian
Eritrean
Ethiopian
Ghanaian
Indonesian
Kenyan
Kurdish
Nigerian
Sierra Leonean
Somali
Sudanese
Tanzanian
Yemeni
Don’t let socio-cultural pressures get in the way of protecting children.
FGM is a harmful “cultural” practice, but it is not a religious one. Carrying out this practice has been a criminal offence in the UK since 1985. However, there has not been a single prosecution to date.
As with other forms of child abuse, these crimes often remain hidden and unreported, as children are too ashamed or afraid to speak out.
You can call the NSPCC helpline on 0800 028 3550 and send emails to fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk, text on 88858 or use the NSPCC Helpline online form: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/Applications/Forms/HelplineConcern/the-helpline-online-form.aspx
More information on female genital mutilation here: https://hilaryburrage.com/tag/fgm/
How did it starts and where did it start from?