Female circumcision - a gross understatement if ever I saw one - is common in Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Oman, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates
and other African, Middle Eastern and some Asian countries. It is inflicted on girls to make them "acceptable" as future wives.

Each year an estimated 2 million girls suffer this barbaric ritual, now more appropriately referred to as female genital mutilation.

At its very least female genital mutilation involves cutting off the tip of the clitoris. At its worst it involves cutting off the clitoris, inner labia and some of  the outer labia and stitching up what remains, leaving a small hole for menstruation and urination. The "operation" is usually done with scissors, a razor blade or knife and without anaesthetic.

So entrenched is the notion that no man will marry a woman not "purified" in this way that it is usually the female relatives who hold the girl down and do the cutting!

I respect everyone's right to practice their own beliefs, customs and ethnic traditions - provided they don't cause suffering to others. But I cannot see how mutilating someone's body and destroying their sexuality can be considered an "ethnic tradition" any more than I can accept that other forms of cruelty and torture are ethnic traditions.

Cruelty and torture remain cruelty and torture whatever belief, custom or tradition is used to legitimise and perpetuate them.

For more about female genital mutilation visit:
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm
To take positive action against all human rights abuses
go to: http://www.amnesty.org/
 

All over the world women are abused. Women and girls suffer domestic violence, restrictions on their sexual and reproductive autonomy, exploitation, trafficking for sexual slavery, forced labour and sexual abuse as a weapon of war. 

In the workplace women endure discrimination and harassment. In custody they suffer assault by their jailers. In countries that give male family members authority over women they are denied equality before the law and excluded from participation in public life. 

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the first international treaty to comprehensively address fundamental rights for women. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets a framework for action to end it. 

CEDAW has been ratified by all industrialised countries except The United States.

That's right... all industrialised countries except The United States.

What can you do? Take action. Join the Human Rights Watch campaign at: 
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/cedaw/ 
To help end sexual torture against women visit: 
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/tur-140203-action-eng
Take positive action against all human rights abuses at: http://www.amnesty.org/ and http://www.hrw.org/
 

In many countries people of both sexes and various ages are subjected to abuse, including torture and sexual crimes by police and prison guards. The offenders are seldom brought to justice. 

A quick look at the Amnesty International web site shows many such cases. One of their recent campaigns focused on abuses against women in Turkey where "women from all social and cultural backgrounds have been abused, assaulted, tortured and subjected to sexual crimes by state security forces, acquaintances, complete strangers, and by family members, including their partners." 

Amnesty goes on to say that "Although all women are at risk of violence, due to specific patterns of discrimination in Turkey, Amnesty International is concerned that Kurdish women, particularly those living in the south-east, and women who hold political beliefs that are unacceptable to the government or the military, have been at increased risk of violence at the hands of agents of the state."

To find out more and to help end sexual torture against women in custody visit: 
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/tur-140203-action-eng
To take positive action against all human rights abuses
go to: http://www.amnesty.org/
 

Lately, the spotlight has been on Iraq but do you realise that the abuse of prisoners there is just the tip of the iceberg? In many other countries too, people of both sexes and various ages are the victims of sexual crimes and torture by police and prison guards. The offenders are seldom brought to justice. 

You can make a difference.

Take action against all human rights abuses. Visit 
Amnesty International: http://web.amnesty.org/
and Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/