Women criticise report of women mutilation

ANF – Sulaimaniyah 27.07.2013 -A number of feminist activists in Sulaimaniyah in Kurdistan Region criticized on Friday UNICEF report on the continuing phenomenon of Female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iraq and the region.

“The phenomenon of FGM in the centers of cities of the region almost don’t exist, as there are very rare cases in some remote villages and border areas of the province, as tribal customs and traditions still control systems and tradition in it,” the feminist and official of the health section in the Women’s Union of Kurdistan in Sulaimaniyah, Diemen Mohammed said. She stressed that this practice is strange to the Kurdish community, noting that women’s organizations, media and clerics in the province have made a lot of effort over the past years ​​to educate the Kurdish community on the consequences of this phenomenon mentally and physically on women. Mohammed noted that there is work going on the preparation of the draft law in Kurdistan Parliament that criminalizes those who do such things. UNICEF issued on Monday in 22 of July, a report that listed Iraq among 28 other countries that practice FGM.