Breaking the Silence:
Combating FGM in Iraqi-Kurdistan

Female genital mutilation is recognized in international conventions as a human rights violation and a severe form of violence against women and children. For several decades, international and local agencies and organizations have been campaigning against it in various countries of Africa, and more recently in Europe as well.

But in Iraq, as in other countries of the Middle East, official documents of governments and United Nations agencies alike, still neglect this abuse.

Women in Iraqi-Kurdistan have broken the silence. In 2005, reports indicated that in several areas, nearly 60 % of the women had been mutilated.  Activists and physicians reported similar rates from other parts of the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq.

As a consequence, Women’s groups and human rights organizations, supported by the German NGO Wadi initiated a campaign to stop FGM in the region.

Effective Ban on Female Genital Mutilation

»Stop FGM in Kurdistan« is a result of a broad public debate on FGM. The campaign is initiated and supported by various local and international organizations and aims to bring about an effective ban of FGM.

On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, in March 2007, the campaign »Stop FGM in Kurdistan« published an open letter to the Kurdish Regional Parliament, in all local newspapers, demanding it to legally ban FGM. In only few days, more than 14,000 people signed the letter, among them prominent journalists, artists and writers.

Bill against FGM is currently before the Parliament

Following the public support to the demand to ban FGM, an experts’ conference met in April 2007, including lawyers, physicians, women’s right and human rights activists to draft an anti-FGM law. The bill was submitted to the Regional Parliament and is expected to come into force.

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