Judge dismisses female genital mutilation charges in historic case

In a major blow to the federal government, a judge in Detroit has declared America's female genital mutilation law unconstitutional, thereby dismissing the key charges against two Michigan doctors and six others accused of subjecting at least nine minor girls to the cutting procedure in the nation's first FGM case.

The historic case involves minor girls from Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota, including some who cried, screamed and bled during the procedure and one who was given Valium ground in liquid Tylenol to keep her calm, court records show.

The judge's ruling also dismissed charges against three mothers, including two Minnesota women whom prosecutors said tricked their 7 -year-old daughters into thinking they were coming to metro Detroit for a girls' weekend, but instead had their genitals cut at a Livonia clinic as part of a religious procedure.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman concluded that "as despicable as this practice may be," Congress did not have the authority to pass the 22-year-old federal law that criminalizes female genital mutilation, and that FGM is for the states to regulate. FGM is banned worldwide and has been outlawed in more than 30 countries, though the U.S. statute had never been tested before this case.

Judge dismisses female genital mutilation charges in historic case

The Resistance Against Female Genital Mutilation in India is Growing | The Wire

On June 9, Judge Johnson of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Australia passed a landmark judgment. Shabbir Vaziri, a senior Bohra priest, was sentenced to 11 months in jail for promoting, perpetuating and enforcing the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the community. This was the first case in history in which Bohras, including a mother and a nurse, were prosecuted for conducting FGM on two small girls. The four-year-long trial concluded with the sentencing verdict, at which jail time was handed out to the priest, while a much more lenient sentence of home detention was enforced on the mother of the two girls and the 80-year-old nurse who performed the procedure. Clearly, the judge differentiated between the mother and nurse, who were forced to perpetuate the practice and the priest – a representative of the clergy – who actively enforced the continuation of FGM in the community.

Just over a month before the verdict, on April 15, the community’s religious head, the Syedna Muffadal, spoke about a subject that had never before been spoken about openly. In a public sermon in Mumbai, he said:
“It must be done. If it is a man, it can be done openly and if it is a woman it must be discreet. But the act must be done. Do you understand what I am saying? Let people say what they want… What do they say? That this is harmful? Let them say it, we are not scared of anyone.”

Those who attended the sermon were certain that this was a reference to khatna, or female genital mutilation (FGM), even though the term was not used. This is because FGM is the only practice that is practiced secretly on women. The sermon was a crystal clear exhortation to the community to practice khatna, even if there is opposition to it.

On June 6, the public relations department of the Syedna issued a press release which very clearly spelt out that FGM would continue in countries which do not have anti-FGM laws.

“Male and female circumcision (called khatna and khafz respectively) are religious rites that have been practiced by Dawoodi Bohras throughout their history,” the statement said. “Religious books, written over a thousand years ago, specify the requirements for both males and females as acts of religious purity.”

The statement and the sermon both signify the turmoil in the community and the need for the head clergy to clarify their stance on the subject.

The Resistance Against Female Genital Mutilation in India is Growing | The Wire

An Egyptian Teenager Died During An Illegal Female Genital Mutilation Surgery—And She Isn't Alone - SELF

H/T:: Breaking Their Will: Religious Child Abuse and Neglect




On May 31, a 17-year-old Egyptian girl, Mayar Mohamed Mousa, died after undergoing an illegal surgery. She and her twin sister underwent a prohibited procedure known as female genital mutilation (FGM). Her sister survived the surgery, but Mayar, who officials believe may have had blood clotting issues, did not. Though the death of any teenager is tragic, Mousa’s passing has gained attention for another reason: Female genital mutilation is harmful and illegal, but in many countries, people keep doing it.

An Egyptian Teenager Died During An Illegal Female Genital Mutilation Surgery—And She Isn't Alone - SELF

January 19-20, 2016::End of the day round-up (pg 2)

India urged to ban FGM as women break silence on secret ritual

A group of Indian women who were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) as children are calling on the government to ban the ancient ritual, describing it as child abuse.

FGM, which can cause serious physical and psychological problems, is more commonly linked to African countries which have led international efforts to end the practice.

Little is known about FGM in India where the ritual is carried out in great secrecy by the close-knit Dawoodi Bohra community, a Shia Muslim sect thought to number over 1 million.

The campaign is led by Masooma Ranalvi, a 49-year-old publisher who has launched an online petition in which she describes how she was cut as a seven-year-old in Mumbai.

"The shock and trauma of that day are still with me. All of us feel scarred by it. It is there in our psyche," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from New Delhi.

"What makes me really angry is that this continues today. What happened to me is history, but why are we doing this to young girls even now? Someone has to speak up and we have to stop this."

When It Comes to The Satanic Temple, Christians Seem to Love Bearing False Witness

CNS, like so many other Christian conspiracists, refused to consider an appeal to equality without coloring it as an assault meant to entirely eradicate traditional norms. In their willful ignorance, anything short of the criminalization of homosexuality is an assault on their cherished, archaic values. Annoying as this is, at least we had used the word “sacrament” in our statements related to marriage; it wasn’t exclusive to same-sex unions. When it comes to reproductive rights, though, we never used the word “sacrament” at all. Still, the word is now frequently attached to us, always in quotes, never with attribution.

For these zealous theocratic Christian “journalists,” it’s not enough to merely misrepresent The Satanic Temple in their own reporting. They must also feign affront and injury should any media outlet have the audacity to consider our actual words. Following any bit of responsible coverage of TST’s campaigns, there is inevitably a barrage of indignant commentary regarding the “liberal media’s” perceived alignment with the Satanic cause.
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“If you wanna do it in your basement, that’s fine, but parading it in public and trying to bring legitimacy to symbolism — that is not positive.” He said this while marching in public, proclaiming his faith, and shouting into a megaphone.

Encountering a couple of Catholic journalists, also protesting TST’s presence in Detroit, Ling asked one, “Do you believe in freedom of religion?”

“Yes.”

“So, to that extent, do you not believe that they [The Satanic Temple] should be able to practice their religion?”

“I don’t believe that people are free for error. People are free for the truth, but never for something that’s wrong.”

“If they espoused any other belief, other than Satan, would you be ok with them?”

“No, I’m not okay with any other religion because the only true religion is Catholicism.”

The Supreme Court Could Hear a Third License Plate Case

Now the Supreme Court has the opportunity to decide yet a third license plate case. In Cressman v. Thompson, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit rejected the claim of an Oklahoma man that he had a free speech right to tape over the image of a Native American shooting an arrow into the sky. Mr. Cressman objected to the compelled display of what he regards as the image’s pantheistic message. The “Sacred Rain Arrow,” based on a well-known sculpture by Allan Houser, depicts an Apache legend of a warrior who shot the arrow to the heavens to ask the gods for rain. However, the appeals court concluded that the image connotes only recognition of the Native American heritage of the state—and because Cressman does not object to that message, the court concluded that compelled display did not infringe his right to free speech.

Last November, Cressman filed a petition for a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court. As the year ended, the libertarian Cato Institute filed an amicus brief urging the justices to accept Cressman’s case. Then, last week, the Court called for a response from the Oklahoma state defendants—often the first step before the Court grants review to hear a case on the merits.

The immediate issue in the Cressman case may seem quaint or peculiar, but it presents important questions with potentially far-reaching implications. As I shall explain, the appeals court appears to have erred in failing to protect Cressman’s right against compelled speech. Nonetheless, a Supreme Court decision to grant review and rule for Cressman could—depending on how the opinion is written—hold the potential to undermine anti-discrimination law.

Alex Jones: 'We Are Being Gang Raped' By Obama And Pals

“We are being gang raped,” Jones said. “We are being brought low. Like a pimp gets a young 16-year-old girl that runs away, this is the standard deal. Whether it’s Mexico, the U.S., Europe, it’s all the same system for thousands of years, she runs away from mommy and daddy, he gets her, he treats her good, he gives her food, takes care of her, gets her in, gets her in debt, gets her on drugs; two years later, he’s putting cigarettes out on her and kills her in a parking lot and throws her in a ditch after 5,000 guys have basically had sex with her. That’s what the globalists are doing to America and I’m not going to sit here and watch them put cigarettes out on our eyeballs.”

Alex Jones: My Critics Just Want A Spot In The Global Elites' Off-World Colonies | Right Wing Watch https://t.co/cJ36UfRJtj DERP ALERT!!

According to a Creationist Video, 3 + 3 = 6 is Somehow Proof of God’s Existence

But just because something is abstract doesn’t mean God’s responsible for it. Quick: Think of a unicorn. It’s not really there. That’s not proof of God’s existence.

There is a longstanding philosophical debate about whether mathematics was invented or discovered — but none of that suggests anything about God.

And invoking famous mathematicians who believed in God, like Isaac Newton (who is references in that clip), is just silly. He lived in a time before we knew about genes, DNA, evolution, etc. When you have no answers available to you, God makes a lot of sense. When those gaps start getting filled, though, clinging to the God hypothesis is ridiculous.

Go Home, Sarah. You’re Drunk.

No, sadly, the mask of the Sarah Palin so many of us were drawn in by has slipped. Rather than a warrior for conservative principle, we now see the oh-so shallow pool of her conservatism. She could have endorsed literally ANYBODY else running, but she threw her full-throated support behind a man who has said he identifies as a Democrat, has backed single payer healthcare, eminent domain, abortion, and a progressive tax on the wealthy. He has attacked real conservatives, shows a glaring lack of knowledge on most every important issue facing our nation, and covers it all with a gross layer of incivility and arrogance towards any who question him or hold him to task. He is all these things and will be the death of the GOP, or any chance of growing conservatism in this nation, again, if he is not stopped.

Make no mistake. Palin isn’t alone in this betrayal of the ideology she once rode to prominence. Talking heads from Hannity to Levin to Limbaugh have cut the throats of the entire conservative movement, all for the ratings a sideshow freak like Trump brings. Palin’s move, as well as the past few months of fawning, slack-jawed devotion to all things Trump that those who (formerly) enjoyed conservative talk radio have had to endure shows those of us who still value principle over celebrity just how unreliable and self-serving those who would be our “voice” truly are.

History Has Been Made! Female Genital Mutilation Banned In Nigeria!

In a move welcomed as a step in the right direction by international advocates, outgoing Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has signed a bill officially banning the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015, which was passed by the Nigerian Senate earlier in May, also will prevent men from leaving their families without proving financial support, according to Reuters.

Nigerian women’s rights and public health groups have long campaigned against FGM, which removes parts or all of a girl’s genitalia, often at a very young age and without the girl’s consultation or consent, saying that it violates human rights. The procedure has also led to severe health problems.
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Stella Mukasa, director of Gender, Violence and Rights at the International Center for Research on Women, explains the complexity of the implementation of the new law banning FGM/C.

“It is crucial that we scale up efforts to change traditional cultural views that underpin violence against women,” she wrote in an article for “The Guardian.” “Only then will this harmful practice be eliminated.”

So far women’s advocates have generally expressed optimism in the wake of Jonathan’s 11th hour action, but they caution that legislation alone will not be enough to eradicate a practice so deeply-rooted in familial and ethnic customs. Real change must be cultural, not merely political.

“We welcome this ban as we welcome any ban on FGM, in any country,” Tarah Demant, senior director for Amnesty International USA’s identity and discrimination unit, tells Quartz. “But it’s unclear whether other countries will do the same.”

History Has Been Made! Female Genital Mutilation Banned In Nigeria!

Survivors of female genital mutilation speak out at Nottingham conference | Nottingham Post

Visibly emotional, she spoke of the morning she was told it was "time to become a woman".

She said: "I wanted to run away but I was scared of being alone. The pain I felt was something I can never describe. The experience was horrific. I can still remember the face of the cutter, the clothes she was wearing."

Since that day, Valentine has gone on to campaign against the practice, which is still viewed as a religious tradition in some cultures.

She set up the Nottingham-based Mojatu Foundation last year to raise awareness, and organised Thursday's conference for about 250 health experts, academics and fellow survivors.

Even in the 21st century it is still an issue here in Nottingham. Last year, specialist clinics in the city dealt with more than 200 cases of FGM, nine of which involved girls under 18.

Chris Few, chairman of the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board, said: "Until we get the whole of the community engaged in dealing with this we are never going to see the end to it. FGM is perhaps unlike other forms of child abuse – it's something we can eradicate. With the right will and commitment we can get rid of it completely."

Survivors of female genital mutilation speak out at Nottingham conference | Nottingham Post

Nigeria's female genital mutilation ban is important precedent, say campaigners | Society | The Guardian

As Hemant Mehta points out, "The big question now is whether Nigerian officials will be able to enforce a law that has sadly become a part of the culture. Still, this is an excellent step in the right direction."

The Nigerian government has taken the historic step of outlawing the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), in a move campaigners describe as “hugely important”.

Nigeria – a cultural and political powerhouse in Africa – introduced a new federal law banning the practice, which involves removing part or all of a girl’s outer sexual organs.

The outgoing president, Goodluck Jonathan, signed the ban into law as one of his final acts as leader. He was beaten in Nigeria’s presidential election in March by Muhammadu Buhari, who was sworn into office on Friday.
The law, which was passed by the Senate on 5 May, also prohibits men from abandoning their wives or children without economic support.

Around a quarter of Nigerian women have undergone FGM – which can cause infertility, maternal death, infections and the loss of sexual pleasure – according to 2014 UN data. The practice was already banned in some states, but now it will be outlawed throughout the country.
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As the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria’s decision carries significant weight, but it would need to be implemented effectively, said Mary Wandia, FGM programme manager of Equality Now. “With such a huge population, Nigeria’s vote in favour of women and girls is hugely important,” she said. “We hope, too, that the other African countries which have yet to ban FGM – including Liberia, Sudan and Mali, among others – do so immediately to give all girls a basic level of protection.”

Others stressed that the battle to end FGM in a generation was far from over, saying it was crucial that attitudes, as well as laws, were changed.

Nigeria's female genital mutilation ban is important precedent, say campaigners | Society | The Guardian

Evidence Shows That Illegal Female Genital Cutting Is a Growing Phenomenon in US | Alternet

Female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) and female circumcision, is an increasing international concern to human rights activists and feminists across the globe. An estimated 140 million girls have been subjected to the practice worldwide and it is still prevalent in at least 28 countries according to the World Health Organization Progress Report in 2011.

In Western culture, mere mention of FGM sends feminist activists up in arms, generating intense negative feelings and evoking discussion about sexism, brutality and gender-based violence. However, while FGM is mostly practiced in African and Middle Eastern countries and classified as an “off-shore problem,” many Americans are unaware of the cultural complexities embedded in the custom and the fact that it is happening right under our noses.

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It's difficult to estimate exactly how many girls have been exposed to the practice in the United States. The procedure is heavily under-reported and shrouded in secrecy by communities and family members who are aware of the legal ramifications of revealing that they have committed FGC. According to De Palma, anecdotal evidence suggests that the figures of those at risk of FGM in the United States are a lot higher than initially indicated.

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Human rights activists and feminists view such examples of FGC as mutilation, a barbaric practice that violates women’s fundamental human rights—a position that is backed by international treaties, medical documentation and United Nations resolution. However, at the other end of the spectrum are hundreds of thousands of women who see such objections to FGC as ethnocentric and racist and wish to honor the custom, which has been passed down through generations.

In many cultures, it is inconceivable to think that a woman has not undergone some sort of cutting, with many women not considered “fully female” and ostracized by their communities for failing to undergo the procedure. The practice is said to pre-date religion and is linked to femininity, honor, social status and marriageability.

Cultural relativism plays an important role, as those who disagree with the ideology that FGC constitutes a human rights violation advocate for the right to cultural self-determination. While cultural relativism has shifted over time as human rights arguments gain momentum, there are a number of groups that view the international response as one-sided and ignorant of the culture complexities that underlie the practice.

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“My experience is rare," she told AlterNet. "My parents were African immigrants and interested in preserving our culture and traditions whilst providing me with an education in the United States. When I returned to Sierra Leone, I was greeted by a supportive, embracing feminist society of women in my community. The practice was celebrated and girls were pampered and spoiled prior to the cutting. It was an opportunity for me to join a larger movement and I wanted to go through this experience because of the notion of empowerment.“

When asked her opinion on the consent issue, Ahmadu said, "Why do African girls have to give consent, when males circumcised at birth do not? Why are we singling out and stigmatizing African girls? I have a problem with the fact that we are treating these girls differently in a negative way. As a result, these girls are internalizing this negativity and believing that they are inadequate whereas once before, this procedure marked their sexuality and empowered them sexually. The standard of consent should be applied equally across the board and not just to Africans."

Ahmadu’s perspective rarely rears its head in human rights discussions, as we generally only hear about girls who are subjected to FGC against their wishes or who suffer irreparable harm,,,


Evidence Shows That Illegal Female Genital Cutting Is a Growing Phenomenon in US | Alternet