Female Genital Mutilation on the rise in Europe

[germanos]

I think there is quite a big muslim minority in Ethiopia, but I could be wrong.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Ethopia is a Christian country.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/et.html

Muslim 45%-50%,
Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%,
animist 12%,
other 3%-8%

[molly bloom]

Re: Female Genital Mutilation on the rise in Europe

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3806689

This is really sad. I hope Europe will take this seriously, investigate, find the people who are doing this, and send the offenders away to prison. Have any of Poly's Europeans have heard about this practice being imported to Europe before and if so what is being done about it?

Yes. However it also appears to be on the rise in Canada, Australia and the United States too- so why is Europe being singled out for taking this seriously, when it already does?

'It is already an offence to send a girl abroad for the purposes of female genital mutilation in the rest of the UK following the passing of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.'

http://www.ippf.org/fgm

http://www.zerotolerance.org.uk/04_news/2004/08aug/semutil.htm

Ethiopia's religious mix, according to the government's website is:

'Ethiopian culture and tradition have been much influenced by both Christian and Muslim religions. The Amharas and Tigreans are predominantly Christian and adhere to the Orthodox church. The Oromos, the largest ethnic group are more mixed, with Christian and Muslim communities, as well as communities who adhere to local traditions.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the largest religious group (45%), followed by Sunni Muslims (35%) and those with traditional beliefs (11%). An additional 9% are listed as ‘others’. Catholicism and Ethiopian evangelism (Mekane Yesus) are also considered to be important religions in Ethiopia.

Religion has always been a major influence in Ethiopia and no other sub-Saharan country in Africa can trace its origins as far back. Ethiopia is mentioned many times in the Bible and in the Qur’an.'

http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/government/government.htm

[Monk]

In this country there have been several official attempts to establish some kind of contact with immigrants from Somalia, trying to persuade them not to carry on their traditions even using religious arguments alongside rational ones, but due to the nature of the issue, it's almost impossible to know for sure how much it helps.

Like in The Netherlands according to germanos, teachers, doctors, nurses etc. have to notify the social authorities, should they have a good reason to believe a child is going to be circumsised, or that a girl is suffering from the effects of female circumsision, but these notifications happen very rarely as far as I know. Hopefully this is because of a low degree of female circumsision, but sadly it does seem logical that many of these girls will lie and deny due to strict orders from home, or sheer shame.

Legally speaking, the current gov't tightened the rules so persons who conduct or assist a female circumsision now recieve up to six years in prison, as do those who send their daughters abroad for this purpose (possibly a grey issue in cases of countries like Somalia where the practice remains legal, but I reckon it's the best we can do).

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Ethopia is a Christian country.

But then, it isn't strictly a Muslim practice.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm

[chequita guevara]

This is a vile and barbaric practice. Those who inflict it on children should be manditorially sterilized and have their hands removed so they can never mutiliate another child.

[problem_child]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid


Indeed, but we are not allowed to discuss it, because then we are racists

Oh please, you remind me of some whingy little rich kid who's obsessed with percieving himself as a victim.

I'm never shy to announce my grim opinion of Islam, anybody who says that's racist can go to hell, a religion (manmade) can't compare to a race (nature-made), Islam and the rest of them WISH they could honestly be seen as things like Races. But a bunch of bollocks that some people choose to believe does not compare to actual genetics giving continental groups of people specific appearences.

Besides, I myself am assimilationist, and I reckon all these immigrant problems are turning up now because of the neo-liberal divide & conquor Polotical Correctness Regime of Insincerity agenda to divide everybody as much as possible and make those differences the most important thing in their lives.

I thought the whole point of culture was to bring people together into a common reality, thus- German culture, the culture of people who live in Germany, American culture, the culture of those who live in America, etc. To Assimilate is to change, widen or expand the culture.

Multiculturalism is an agenda to make everybody feel like a victim and a foreigner in the land of their birth, and compete against everybody who doesn't look exactly like themselves. Furthermore, it makes people like Combat Ingrid ***** and moan about being seen as racist.

ps- Islam sucks, so do the others, it doesn't surprise me that such barbarism is promoted amongst them. Lets add further to the ridiculousness of the idea that saying Islam sucks (which it does) is racism, the ancestors of most of the people in the 'Muslim World' were invaded, brutally conquored, had their traditions exterminated, and the Islamic monoculture impossed upon them.

A fu hundred or a couple thousand years later (depending where you live in the aftermath of the muslim empire- er... I mean muslim world) people are called racist if they point out the nature of the chauvanistic control-freak nature-hating belief-system that calls itself 'Peace' for some inexplicable reason.

Obviously Islam isn't particularly worse then christianity, christianity is just a little more tamed and beaten into acting civil because of the Reformation, and hundreds of years of Governments that couldn't afford to indulge the religions gross excesses

[Combat Ingrid]

problem_child: I'm not *****ing about being seen as a racist. I'm not a racist and if anyone wants to call me that, fine, it's their problem. I don't feel like a victim either.
I'm just fed up by the fact that you can't really debate these issues, people will just call you racist and then stop listening to whatever you may have to say. Say the PC thing or shut up, basically.

But we do have immigration related problems, such as the one this thread is about. To solve it, we need a constructive debate, not the polarised one we have today. We need to acknowledge the problems we have and try to bring up solutions that will benefit both the natives and the immigrants. Sadly, very few people seem to be interested in solving problems, they just follow their political agenda, no matter what

[problem_child]

I agree, most people do care alot more about this 'Left/Right' thing then any kind of morally informed rationality.

But in this thread I notice you were the first person to mention 'racism'.

Also your terms are interesting, Native vs Immigrant? What does that mean... if someone was born in a nation, is that person immigrant or native? what if their parents were born on another continent? What about people who have no problem living in the culture in which they were born, but have to put up with other people going on about the identity crisis they're supposed to have all the time, or calling them immigrant when they've known no other culture then the one in which they were born, or having issues bracketed in 'race' when they themselves didn't even think the issue involved that?

I think some people are just over-sensitive about race. We can excpect that from Americans but, everybody else should ease off I think, and forget about Political Correctness, this divisive American-invented false-politeness amounts to nothing more then a cynical attempt at social-engineering, thought control and difference-enhancement. Also as you say, it anihilates discourse.

[Dr Strangelove]

Many states in the USA require that a child have a physical examination prior to entering school. In every state of the Union a physician is mandated by law to report suspected casers of child abuse, it is a criminal offence to not do so. Why don't the nations of Europe require that children get a physical exam at the ages of 6 and 12 and then also require that physicians report cases of FGM?

[Combat Ingrid]

But in this thread I notice you were the first person to mention 'racism'.

It was a knee-jerk response. In Sweden, this thread would be branded "racist". Heck, even the leader of our liberal, pro-immigration party has been branded a racist because his solutions to help integrate the immigrants were apparently not PC enough...

Also your terms are interesting, Native vs Immigrant? What does that mean...

Bad wording, basically. I don't really see people as "natives and immigrants". I just meant that the people as a whole, regardless of background, should benefit. It doesn't help much if we start creating victims, real or perceived.

[alva]

Problem_child,: there is a difference between the UK and the rest of Europe on this.
In the UK you can talk about this in public ( TV ), you cannot do so anywhere else.
It is slowly changing though.

[Elok]

Ignoring the boilerplate antireligious screed, should this be called "circumcision"? If they're removing the whole clitoris it's more analogous to emasculation, isn't it? Seems like a minor distinction, I know, but a circumsized man is capable of sexual pleasure and living a full life, so...

And yes, it's ghastly either way, not that it needs to be said.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Grrr...

How did you miss it?

[Shi Huangdi]

"
Yes. However it also appears to be on the rise in Canada, Australia and the United States too- so why is Europe being singled out for taking this seriously, when it already does?"

I hadn't before heard of this happening in those countries, no attempt to single out Europe.

Monk:

"
Legally speaking, the current gov't tightened the rules so persons who conduct or assist a female circumsision now recieve up to six years in prison, as do those who send their daughters abroad for this purpose (possibly a grey issue in cases of countries like Somalia where the practice remains legal, but I reckon it's the best we can do)."

Only 6 years? That seems obscenely short for such a crime. Now, I had been under the impression for a while that sentences in Europe were too short- in the USA you would probably serve over 10 years for a "Standard" rape, much less a crime such as this. How can someone who has perpetrated such a monstrosity get such lenient terms?