Long road to eradicating FGM in Kurdistan

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been completely eradicated in some Kurdish villages but continues to loom large over thousands of women and girls across the region.

February 6 marks  International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, a practice which involves the cutting or complete removal of female genitalia for non-medical purposes.

Some 15,000 girls across Iraq were at risk of being mutilated in 2018, according to figures provided to Rudaw English by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The majority of girls are cut between the ages of six and fifteen years of age by a midwife or traditional “birth attendant”. It is seen as a necessary rite of passage in various cultures across the globe.

A report issued by UNFPA said the stigma surrounding FGM in some cultures is so extreme that some will refuse food or drink from a girl who has not undergone the traumatic procedure. 

Women and girls subjected to FGM are often plagued by short and long-term health issues, including severe bleeding, infections, urinary problems, childbirth complications, painful menstruation, and difficulties having sexual intercourse. 

The psychological impact can also be devastating. Psychologist Jan Ilhan Kizilhan of the University of Freiburg in Germany found “alarmingly high” rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety among circumcised girls in Kurdistan, at 44 percent and 46 percent respectively. 

Although cutting rates remain low in Iraq compared to other Middle Eastern countries, the vast majority of cases occur in the Kurdistan Region, particularly in Erbil and Sulaimani provinces.

A 2015 survey by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s High Council for Women Affairs revealed that 68 percent of mothers in Erbil had been mutilated and 60 percent in Sulaimani, compared to 40 percent in Duhok and and 7 percent in Halabja. 

Kurdistan’s Garmiyan Region is tentatively celebrating the eradication of FGM after no new cases were recorded in the area in the past year, according to German NGO WADI, which works to combat all forms of gender-based violence, including FGM.

However, the battle to protect women and young girls is far from over.

“I have met many women who said they are ready to mutilate their daughters, but they can’t find anyone to do it,” said Shokh Mohammed, WADI’s project supervisor.

WADI has pioneered action against the cutting of women and girls in the Kurdistan Region, working in rural villages for fifteen years to end the practice.

“We work on mentality, and that takes such a long time. At the beginning it was very difficult. We received a lot of death threats.. our staff were humiliated,” said Mohammed.

“They would tell us ‘you are making Kurdistan look bad’,” she said.

The NGO visits communities across the region to speak with locals and village leaders. As the taboos surrounded female health and sexuality remain strong, it is a long-term work in progress. 

“A woman will never tell you she has been cut in the first visit. You have to build trust,” Mohammed said.

“You open women centers and women don’t come. You have to take change to them,” she added.

The approach was commended by UNFPA representatives, who have launched a new initiative to combat FGM with Kurdistan’s High Council for Women Affairs.

“We are reaching out to religious leaders and different components of society in order to reach as many mothers as possible,” said Salwa Moussa, UNFPA’s Iraq spokesperson in Baghdad.

“In Iraq overall, the level of FGM is not high. However, our goal is to make sure that no-one is left behind,” she added.

The UNFPA initiative also targets wider society, including imams, teachers, and midwives to highlight the illegality of the practice, which was banned by the KRG in 2011 under law no.8, outlawing domestic violence.

Public attitudes in favor of ending FGM have improved since the passage of the law, according to WADI. Under the legislation, practitioners now face up to three years in prison and a hefty fine. 

Women themselves are often the driving factor behind the endurance of FGM, according to Mohammed, who said mothers, grandmothers, and influential matriarchal figures pressure women into cutting their daughters. UNFPA plans to reach 7,500 women over the next 18 months, hoping to half the number of FGM cases in the Kurdistan Region.

According to WADI, men are mostly oblivious to the practice, even when they are married to women affected by FGM.

They are now being included in measures to prevent their female relatives being harmed by FGM.

“Many men are kept completely in the dark. They don’t know anything. We’ve had many even ask us what [we mean by] cutting,” Mohammed said. They are also affected through marital problems spurred by genital mutilation, she added.

Although these measures have yielded results in several communities in Kurdistan, FGM remains a grave threat on many across the region.