Indonesia renews campaign to end female genital mutilation

Muslim women browse for headscarves at a market in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia. Pic: AP

27th September 2016 

THE Indonesian government is looking to stop the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) through a renewed campaign, despite opposition from religious leaders in the world’s largest Muslim country.

The idea to end the practice altogether was mooted over a decade ago but was met with resistance from influential Muslim clerics. Indonesia’s women’s minister Yohana Yembise said, however, that the government was engaging women’s and religious groups to raise awareness on the issue.

Yohana was quoted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as telling foreign journalists that the government is educating groups on the dangers of FGM, and conducting a survey to provide “scientific evidence” to substantiate the government’s aim to end the practice.

“We try to approach the traditional and religious leaders to understand and to be aware that we have to end this female genital mutilation,” Yohana was quoted as saying recently.

FGM is a catch-all phrase used to refer to procedures that totally or partially remove the external female genitalia, or that injure the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is widely regarded as a serious and abhorrent violation of human rights.

A UN report released in February revealed that about half (49 percent) of all Indonesian girls aged 14 and younger have undergone genital mutilation (or circumcision). The figure stands in stark contrast with Indonesia’s reputation as a moderate and even progressive Muslim nation.

SEE ALSO: Almost half of Indonesian girls under 15 have undergone genital mutilation – UN report

The report by UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) noted that while instances of female genital mutilation are declining globally, not all countries have achieved progress on the issue. In short, the decrease in FGM is neither uniform nor sufficient.

Indeed, the report highlighted some very disturbing numbers. An estimated 200 million females in 30 countries alive today have undergone the procedure. Of that former number, over half reside in just three countries – Indonesia, Egypt, and Ethiopia.

Indonesian Students read the Quran. (File photo) Pic: AP.

FBM has been generally thought to be confined to Africa and the Middle East. However, its apparent popularity in Indonesia underscores its previously unrecorded prevalence throughout the globe.

In Indonesia, female circumcision is understood to be deeply rooted in religion and tradition. Its implementation varies, but is typically considered less severe than approaches common on the African continent.

Human Rights Watch Asia Division Deputy Director, Phelim Kine, said the renewed campaign was long overdue given that the government buckled to pressure from Islamic organizations in 2010 after outlawing the practice in 2006

“FGM violates women’s and girls’ rights to health and to be free from violence. The procedure, which serves no medical purpose and is irreversible, inflicts severe pain on young girls and can be life-threatening,” he said in a news release Tuesday.

He said Yembise’s attention to the horrors of FGM will hopefully spur the ministry to also address the use of “virginity tests” on female applicants to the National Police and Indonesian Armed Forces.

Indonesia’s National Police have imposed the tests, which have been described as “abusive” and “degrading”, on thousands of female applicants since as early as 1965. Kine said this was happening even though National Police principles say recruitment must be both “nondiscriminatory” and “humane.”

Kine said the “virginity tests” have been recognized internationally as violations of the right to non-discrimination and the prohibition against “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” under international human rights treaties Indonesia has ratified. He pointed out that the World Health Organization has stated unambiguously that, “There is no place for virginity (or ‘two-finger’) testing; it has no scientific validity.”

“Indonesia should show the same determination in ending “virginity testing” as it has shown in taking on FGM,” Kine said.