Female Genital Mutilation

Muslim scholars join rare anti-female circumcision summit in Cairo informed Haaretz newspaper today. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or more commonly known as female circumcision is a widespread tradition in many African countries & cultures.

Female genital mutilation usually involves removal of the clitoris. Those who practice it believe it lowers a girl's sexual desires and thus helps maintain her honor. With age-old cultural roots, it is practiced today in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt and other parts of the Arab world such as Yemen and Oman.

An estimated 50 percent of schoolgirls in Egypt are thought to undergo the procedure, according to the Egyptian government statistics.

UNICEF says an estimated 3 million women and girls undergo female genital mutilation each year and that the age at which it is carried out is getting lower in some countries. A survey conducted in 2000 in Ethiopia indicated 80 percent of women between 15-49 years of age there had been circumcised.

FRESH GOOD NEWS!!

Muslim scholars in Cairo declare female circumcision
un-Islamic, call for its end (AP)

http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/FGM/45986.asp