News Article by THE GUARDIAN posted on November 30, 2000 at 19:50:46: EST (-5 GMT)
EU may ban aid to states that allow female circumcision
Andrew Osborn in Brussels and
Sarah Boseley
THE GUARDIAN
Thursday
November 30, 2000
Third world countries that refuse to ban
the controversial practice of
female genital
mutilation could be stripped of their right
to receive
European Union development
aid, an EU commissioner warned
yesterday as
campaigners from Africa
lobbied in Brussels.
In an impassioned speech before the
European parliament,
Anna
Diamantopoulou, the EU's Greek
commissioner for employment and
social
affairs, condemned the procedure as an
appalling violation of
fundamental human
rights.
As many as 2m girls are considered to be
at risk of genital mutilation
every year. The
painful operation sees all or part of the
clitoris and
other genitalia removed,
without anaesthetic and in conditions that
are
usually unsanitary. Death, disability
and sterility can be the result.
Female circumcision is practised in 28
African countries. In Somalia, it
is done to
98% of women. Sudan, Djibouti, parts of
the Arabian peninsula,
and Democratic
Republic of Congo, are among the places
named in UN studies
as practising ritual
mutilation. The EU and the United Nations
estimate
that some 135m women have
been circumcised.
UN experts believe that the practice is
gradually being rolled back
through legal
action. Last year Senegal outlawed it, and
the year before,
Tanzania, Ivory Coast and
Togo. Among other recent reformers are
Ghana,
Burkina Faso and Egypt.
"It is high time that member states, and
indeed the EU as a whole,
addressed the
issue," Ms Diamantopoulou told the
parliamentary hearing in
Brussels. Some
MEPs want EU states to recognises the
threat of female
circumcision as a reason
for granting refugee status.
In a speech that will enrage proponents
who argue that their cultural
traditions
require control of female sexuality and
keeping girls virginal
until marriage, the
commissioner also called on EU member
states to outlaw
the procedure among
African immigrant communities.
In Europe, laws banning female genital
mutilation exist only in Britain,
Norway
and Sweden, Ms Diamantopoulou said.
Britain, she noted, is the EU
country with
the highest number of female immigrants
from cultures that
practise circumcision -
300,000.
But it is her suggestion that EU
development aid be linked to stamping
out
female circumcision in Africa which is
likely to cause controversy.
"We may
consider making aid to recipient countries
contingent on their
commitment to fight
the practice of female genital mutilation
via
legislation and education," she said.
Sensitive to accusations of western
interference, she went out of her way
to
justify her position.
"Europe is not in the business of
preaching and imposing its culture
on
other countries and nations. However,
Europe must be very clear in
defending its
values which are built around justice,
equality of the sexes
and human rights,"
she said.