Sri Lanka’s first survey on FGM/C: Survivors need space to talk and access to medical care
By Jumana S. “It should not be up to the elders to stamp the body of a girl child at the age of seven, (a process that is irreversible irrespective of the extent of damage), and decide what her religious convictions should be.” – Jamila, Dawoodi Bohra survivor of FGC, Colombo This fundamental right that […]
Reflecting before we move forward: Overview of global FGC news from 2018
For everyone invested in laws and norms around the practices of FGC, 2018 was an incredibly eventful year. On January 22nd, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Liberian president and first female head of state in Africa, on her last day in office, signed an executive order to ban FGC for a year. Over half of Liberian […]
To ban or medicalise? Sri Lanka grapples with debates on Female Genital Cutting
(Please note that a version of this article appears on LankaWeb.com. It has been republished here with permission from the author.) By Fatima Yasmin Country: Sri Lanka Muslim religious organisations in Sri Lanka have called on the government to medicalise female circumcision to ensure the procedure is done under hygienic conditions. In their submission […]
Let there be no more victims like me
By AnonymousCountry: Sri Lanka I am a victim of Female Genital Cutting – some might want to call it circumcision, I call it Mutilation. Not quite the way that the proponents want to depict it as what always happens in Africa (infibulation) with horrific scars, but in the way, it happened to me in Sri […]
Finally in the spotlight: Female Genital Cutting is getting national attention in Sri Lanka
Until a few months ago, Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Sri Lanka was spoken about only in whispers within practicing communities and in a few news articles. Since last month, however, the issue has suddenly attracted the attention of the mainstream national media and has been the highlight of some crucial discussions among government ministers […]
FGC in Sri Lanka
FGC Articles & Research in Other Countries
FGC in Asia: FGC in Australia: FGC in Canada: FGC in Colombia: FGC and COVID: FGC in Egypt: FGC and Islam: FGC in Indonesia: FGC in Iran: FGC in Iraq: FGC in Malaysia: FGC in Oman: FGC in Pakistan: FGC in Philippines: FGC in Russia: FGC in Saudi Arabia: FGC in Singapore: FGC in Sri […]
My parents would not have cut me if they had the right information, says a Sri Lankan Bohra
By: Anonymous Country: Colombo, Sri LankaAge: in her 50s Circa 1970s, I was seven years old. I hardly have any memories of my life during this period and most are vague, but I do remember almost every waking minute of one particular day. I woke up, I guess like any other ordinary day, had […]
‘Girls must be circumcised or they will grow up loose’: Three Sri Lankan women talk about Female Genital Cutting
by: Bintari Hamza Zafar, a concerned Sri Lankan Muslim citizen Country: Sri Lanka Female Genital Mutilation is a serious problem in Sri Lanka. Almost all Sri Lankan Muslim women are circumcised. Both Moors and Malays (ethnic Muslim communities in Sri Lanka) are of the Shafi school of Islam which regards female circumcision, or “sunnat”, as […]