Author:
Publication: The Courier Mail
Date: June 23, 2003
URL: http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6636793^954,00.html
Delegates from 28 countries across
the Middle East and Africa gathered in Cairo yesterday to pledge their
commitment to eradicating female circumcision, long considered a barbaric
practice around the world.
Between 120 and 130 million women,
mainly in Africa and the Arab world, were circumcised, while two million
girls annually underwent the procedure, which involved the removal of the
clitoris, the conference's organisers said.
"We are determined to battle this
problem to ensure a better future for our daughters," said Egypt's first
lady Suzanne Mubarak at the opening of the conference.
The gathering, dubbed the Afro-Arab
Expert Consultation for the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation, has
attracted campaigners from Yemen as well as African countries like Senegal,
Kenya, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.
Mubarak was buoyed by the support
of Egypt's most senior religious leaders, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi,
the head of al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, and the Patriarch
of the Coptic church Pope Shenuda III.
The pair told the conference there
was no basis for female circumcision in any Christian or Muslim holy book.
Former EU commissioner Emma Bonino
praised the gathering as a "new start to express our commitment to bring
about a change".
On Wednesday, Egypt convened a two-day
conference of international donors in a bid to raise millions of dollars
for projects to eliminate female circumcision.
The United States, Netherlands,
Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Japan and many UN agencies were among
those represented at the meeting organised by the United Nations Children's
Fund and the Ford Foundation.
Even though female circumcision
has been banned in Egypt since 1997 most Egyptian girls still undergo the
painful practice.
The only Arab countries where female
circumcision is known to be carried out are Egypt, Sudan and Yemen, because
of their links with Africa, which exported the practice deemed vital to
protect the honour of girls.
The Egyptian health ministry issued
a decree banning circumcision, which was upheld by the Council of State
based on laws forbidding the "touching of the human body, except for medical
necessity".
- Agence-France Presse
