MALI: DECLARATION: on the Terminology FGM; 6th IAC General Assembly, 4 - 7 April, 2005, Bamako/Mali

Wednesday, 06 April 2005  

The sixth General Assembly of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC) was held in Bamako, Mali from the 4^th to the 7^th of April 2005.

National committees of the IAC from more than 28 African countries in the African region as well as IAC group sections, affiliates, partners, human rights organizations, donors and representatives from UN specialized agencies and the Economic Commission for Africa [met to review progress, assess constraints and identify opportunities for strengthening campaigns against harmful traditional practices particularly female genital mutilation.

IRELAND/NIGERIA: Second Srt Of 'Fake' Documents In Deportation Case

The Supreme Court has been told a second set of documents provided by Nigerian woman Pamela Izevbekhai to prove her daughter died of Female Genital Mutilation are fakes.

Izevbekhai has spent the last five years challenging a deportation order, arguing her daughters' lives are at risk from FGM if they return to Nigeria.

She says her first-born girl died from the brutal procedure.

GAMBIA: Gambian Human Rights Group Advocates Alternative To Female Genital Mutilation

The Gambian Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP), in partnership with Yolocamba Solidaridad of Spain on Wednesday held a one-day conference on Generating Alternatives to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Speaking at the conference, funded by the Region of Madrid in Spain, the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP, Dr. Isatou Touray, said the GAMCOTRAP/Yolocamba Solidaridad partnership was based on the need to stop the harmful traditional practices against women.

'These areas of concern are critical for the attainment of the fundamental human rights of women and ensuring their complete wellbeing and empowerment within their communities,' she noted.

According to Dr. Touray, GAMCOTRAP in partnership with Yolocamba Solidaridad, supported by the Region of Madrid, worked with Cluster communities in addressing harmful traditional practices, women's rights and gender-based violence.

NIGERIA: Sustained Advocacy Funding, Key to Ending FGM

Conference urges greater visibility for anti-FGM activities

Sustained advocacy, funding and support are key components to facilitate efforts aimed at routing female genital mutilation and cutting in the country, Dr. Isatou Touray, executive director of GAMCOTRAP has said.

Speaking yesterday at the workshop on Generating Alternatives Against FGM in The Gambia, held at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi, Dr. Touray said that GAMCOTRAP, a non governmental advocacy group, has implemented many activities in collaboration with its partners.

KURDISTAN: Women In Kurdistan - Female Circumcision Ban Urged

Mariam Nadr, 77, has a fine home in an upscale neighbourhood of Erbil and is a prominent member of the community. She has a bright smile, a calm demeanour and wears the white shawl of a respected Kurdish matron.

Part of Nadr’s social standing stems from her past: for many years mothers came to her to perform genital mutilations on their daughters. For these women, the act was a cultural and religious rite.

DOWNLOADABLE FILM: The Cut

PUBLICATION: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting - UNFPA Report

Global Consultation on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

Empathy and Rage: Female Genital Mutilation in African Literature

EMPATHY AND RAGE:
Co-Edited by Tobe Levin and Augustine H. Asaah

This collection is a first - scholars analyse this subject as a theme in literature.

In an unusual symbiosis, activism and scholarship join hands to hasten the end of this egregious
human rights abuse.

The collection examines representations in creative writing by African and African-Americans including Nura Abdi, Mariama Barry, Calixthe Beyala, Osman Conteh, Waris Dirie,
Nuruddin Farah, Fatou Keita, Fadumo Korn, Ahmadou Kourouma, Christian Mambou, Nawal El Saadawi, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Awa Thiam and Alice Walker. et al.

In their efforts to end FGM, the governments of Germany, the UK, Italy and the European Union (Brussels) have drawn on the expertise of Tobe Levin who has written many articles and chapters for
books on FGM.

Empathy and Rage - these words bracket a spectrum of feelings people confront when they think about the millions of women and girls who have undergone bolokoli, takhoundi, tukore, or gudni’in - names in local languages for a procedure that mutilates women’s private parts or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Contributors to the collection include: Anne V. Adams, Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Muthoni Mathai, Marianne Sarkis and a translation from the French of contributor Herzberger-Fofana’s obituary placing it in the context of the work as a dedication to Sembene Ousmane, a true African pioneer of the exposure of this practice through film.

Tobe Levin is a Professor at the University of Maryland College in Europe, an adjunct to the University of Frankfurt, and non-resident Fellow, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University. Levin became an activist against FGM in 1977 and co-founded FORWARD - Germany, a registered charity modelled on FORWARD
UK, in 1998.

Augustine H. Asaah is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Ghana where he teaches African Francophone Literature and has pioneered research into African feminist literature and gender-based violence in African fiction.

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