Survey Shows Widespread FGM in Northern Iraq

A German organization released a survey of villages in Kurdish-controlled Iraq that show that between 60-70 percent of the women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). According to IRIN News, of 1,544 women and girls more than ten years old living in the German region of Iraq, 907 said that they had been circumcised.

Female genital mutilation is the cutting or removal of all or a portion of the female genitals for cultural (not medical) reasons. Adwoa Kwateng Kluvitse, director of the Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development, said that FGM “is clearly an abuse of children, it is a human rights violation, it is a gender violence issue, it is a women’s issue,” according to Radio Free Europe.

More than 130 million women are believed to have been subjected to FGM around the world. FGM causes women to suffer infections, pain, hemorrhage, and psychological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of FGM.

DONATE to the Feminist Majority Foundation and support its work for women’s rights and health globally

COLLEGE STUDENTS Register for the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Collegiate Global Women’s and Human Rights Conference, which will connect the dots between the need to build a national constituency to increase international family planning and health funding aid, to ratify international treaties for human rights and the environment, to combat sweatshops, and to promote non-violence and peace.