BIRMINGHAM, UK: Two men arrested under FGC law

(AFP)
May 4, 2012

Two held in Britain over 'female genital mutilation'

LONDON — Two people were arrested in Britain's second city of Birmingham on Friday after a media report that medics and alternative practitioners had offered to perform female genital mutilation.

West Midlands Police said they had arrested two men aged 55 and 61 on suspicion of offences under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, which forbids the cutting of a girl's genitalia unless medically necessary.

...

"We are still in the very early stages of this investigation but I hope this morning's action sends out a clear message about how seriously we are taking these allegations," said Detective Inspector Caroline Marsh of West Midlands Police's public protection unit.

"Female genital mutilation is a serious assault against young girls and while it is perceived by parents not to be an act of hate, it is harmful, it is child abuse and it is unlawful."

The Sunday Times reported that a doctor at a private clinic referred undercover reporters to a dentist who he said would give children the "circumcision" surgery.

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Earlier story

LIBERIA: 750 girls flee school for circumcision

Africa Review
May 3, 2012

Circumcision rush disrupts school term in northern Liberia

By Tamba Jean-Matthew
Dakar

A mad rush by hundreds of girls to get circumcised has left observers astounded in northern Liberia, reports said.

About 750 girls, including college students in the Mahn District of Sanniquellie in Nimba Country, have gone into the bush for circumcision, apparently on their own volition, to the disbelief of many area residents.

This has completely disrupted the academic year as most of the girls are school-going teenagers.
Reports said the girls suddenly developed interest and abandoned whatever activities they were engaged in to be circumcised.

The New Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday that some parents and guardians were taken unawares by this sudden desire by the girls to get the cut.

The newspaper quoted local education authorities complaining that enrolment in the second and final half of the school year had dropped considerably.

"This situation does not only affect grade schools when the season for the ‘bush’ comes in Nimba, but also the African Bible University and Nimba Community College," said one education officer.

The situation has compelled Nimba County Chief Education Officer Beatrice Kargar Saye Bonner to call on the organisers of the circumcision ceremonies to set aside specific periods for the activity so as not to disrupt their education programmes.

"It is not prudent for those of school-going ages to drop out of school. Traditional practices hinder their academic activities," Ms Bonner noted.

UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA: Two boys die from circumcision

Deccan Chronicle
May 2, 2012

Circumcision goes awry, two boys die

Two boys died in Bodhan town in the district late on Monday night due to over bleeding. A rural medical practitioner performed circumcision on the boys five days ago, which led to uncontrolled bleeding.

The deceased were identified as Arif, 4, and Azhar, ,3 of Rakasipet in Bodhan.

It is believed that the negligence of RMP led to the death of children. According to sources, parents got the two children circumcised five days ago at Masjid Colony in Rakasipet area.

After the surgery, the boys had suffered bleeding, but the RMP advised them not to worry and it could be cured with medicines.

But, Arif and Azhar, breathed their last on Monday.

UGANDA: Pretty women entrap intact men for enforced circumcision

Uganda Picks
May 1, 2012

Cultural Circumcision-Pretty Women Used to Find Bugishu Uncircumcised Men

By Sandra Birungi
Pretty women are being used to find out which men have not been circumcised. Among such victims was Shaban Kidudu who was sexually lured by a woman who later revealed that he was not circumcised despite his claims that he had been circumcised.

Kidudu from Lugazi used to tell the Bagishu community that he had been circumcised before and he did not need the cultural performance to be carried out on him. However, it was later found out that he had not been circumcised which forced [forced?] the bugishu community to use force for him to be circumcised. [So they threatened him with violence?]
 
“My husband went through the knife so when he told me we should go and find the man who was scared of it, I was more than willing to go ahead and help. I called him and told him I needed to meet him and he told me he would meet me in five minutes. Five minutes later, I called again and he said he was sloping down the hill and he would be next to me soon. [So this man put out his wife to offer sex to Kidudu, and they claim the moral high ground?] Later on, when I inspected him, I found out he was not circumcised so when we were leaving, I called the people and told them he had not been circumcised,” narrated the planted woman.

Kidudu at first rejected the woman’s claims saying he had been circumcised but later on admitted to not being circumcised. He was smeared with maize flour as culture demands it and walked around the village announcing he was going to get circumcised.

Kidudu works at a washing bay and he had previously assured the people that he had been circumcised. After realising it actually works to find the culprits ["culprits"?] , the residents promised to start using the pretty women to find those men who were not circumcised. Kidudu later confessed that he was going to go for circumcision in the hospital and the operation had been scheduled to take place sometime this week.

“If he was a muslim, we would have had no trouble letting him go because that would mean he had been circumcised but he was not,” said the woman who laid the trap for Kidudu.

In Bugishu culture, circumcision is a must for every boy. By the age of 18 years, it is believed that a boy is able to stand the knife and feel the pain like a man. In previous years, an MP was forcibly circumcised after it was found out he had not been circumcised. Being uncircumcised is looked at as a sin, you are not a man until you have withstood a knife.

COLOMBIA: Girl dies of FGC

Colombia Reports
April 30, 2012

Colombian baby girl dies after circumcision

By Miriam Wells
A 15-day-old baby from an indigenous tribe in western Colombia has died after her clitoris was removed in a banned ancestral practice, reported Radio Caracol Monday.

The infant, who died of a haemorrage, belonged to the Embera-Chami tribe in the Valle de Cauca department, which pledged in 2010 to end the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

The mayor of Ansermanuevo, Jose Luis Herrera, said the baby had left the hospital in good health. "The case [has been referred] to the governor of the community, because they had promised to stop these activities," he said.

The death of a young Embera-Chami girl in 2007 brought attention to the practice of FGM among the tribe, which has a population of about 5,000.

The United Nations Population Fund approached Embera-Chami leaders to ask if it could start a community project exploring the origins of FGM in the tribe and teaching about the physical and psychological harm it causes.

It was discovered it probably dated from the time of colonial rule, when there had been a lot of contact with African communities brought to Colombia as slaves.

After one year of work, the community decided it would stop the practice for a trial period of two years. At the end of the two years, it was decided to end the practice permanently and enforce severe punishments for anyone who carried it out.

UGANDA: Target of 4.2 million men circumcised

UG Pulse
April 30, 2012

Uganda Health News: Ministry of health targets 4.2 million people for circumcision

The Ministry of health has a target of 4.2 million people to be circumcised by 2015, as part of the means to check new HIV infections.
[The male population of Uganda is aprroximately 18 million. ]
 
The country registers 130,000 new infections annually, in a trend that experts say is worrying.
The ministry’s Program manager Aids Control, Dr. Joshua Musinguzi says the campaign is expected to have positive results, since circumcision has been proven to reduce chances of contracting HIV/AIDS by 60%

[Only for men, and hardly "proven".]
 
Musinguzi however cautions those circumcised against living reckless lives, since it does not offer full protection;
[While the leaders speak in euphemisms about "living reckless lives" they are never going to grasp issue.]
 
Meanwhile, the Government has today rolled out a campaign where mayors and municipal leaders are being engaged to promote safe male circumcision and eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV.
[Eliminate? How?]

U S A: Pediatrician recommends Female Cutting

Jewish Press
April 30, 2012

US Pediatric Doctor Favors Female Circumcision

By Yori Yanover
Dr. Hatem al-Haj, PhD, MD, a senior committee member of the Association of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA), has recently published a 41-page Arabic-language paper titled “Circumcision of Girls: Jurisprudence and Medicine.”

According to the “Translating Jihad” blog, Dr. al-Haj explains why female circumcision is recommended and even “an honor” for women. This is the practice known as female genital mutilation (FGM).

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), FGM ” has no health benefits for women,” and causes “severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility, as well as complications in childbirth.”

The Translating Jihad blog was established in 2010 to provide translations of Arabic-language news, opinion, and fatwas related to Islamic intolerance, totalitarianism, and jihad.

According to TJ, Dr. al-Haj, a medical doctor and fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics, justifies his position by referring repeatedly to the words of classical Islamic scholars from the four schools of mainstream Sunni Islamic thought, all of which attest to FGM’s legitimacy under Islam. He also refers to the words of the Prophet Muhammad himself, who reportedly counseled people in his day on how to perform FGM in a way that would be “more beautiful to behold and better for [the woman's] husband.”