TODAY’S MESOP’S BEST NEWS : Rate of FGM down in Iraqi Kurdistan

14.8.2013 – The British MP Gary Kent  has  traveled again to Iraqi-Kurdistan  and recently wrote an article  about progress made there. He also spoke with Pachschan Zangana, today member of the High Council of Women Affairs, some years ago parliamentarian of the Kurdish Communist party who helped to adress the issue of Female Genitale Mutliation in Iraqi-Kurdistan.

She mentions a recent study done in a region WADI is working since 2005 to decrease FGM, although the numbers a bit more sobering than metioned by Gary Kent.

On women’s rights, Kurdistan is still part of the Middle East which is a man’s world. I remember the shock among Kurdish leaders when it became clear that FGM was more widespread than previously thought although it is difficult to specify its scale. (…) The KRG leadership has criminalised FGM and been working with Imams to undermine it culturally. Pakshan cites one area where its incidence has been reduced from 86 to 5%. She praises improved police training on domestic violence.

But these numbers show that if serious attempts are done, one can end this terrible practice within a decade.

http://www.wadinet.de/blog/?p=11342  – 14. August 2013, von Thomas von der Osten-Sacken