BostonHerald.com - International News: African immigrants in Europe subjecting daughters to genital mutilation, activist warns

BostonHerald.com - International News: African immigrants in Europe subjecting daughters to genital mutilation, activist warns: "

African immigrants in Europe subjecting daughters to genital mutilation, activist warns

By Associated Press

Thursday, November 25, 2004

VIENNA, Austria - Many of Europe's African immigrants are subjecting their young daughters to ritual genital mutilation, and authorities are doing little to discourage it, a leading women's rights activist warned Thursday.

Somalia-born supermodel and best-selling author Waris Dirie, who has campaigned to end the disfiguring practice she suffered at age 5 in her homeland, said she estimates one in every three African families living in Europe is secretly carrying out the ritual on daughters born here. No official figures exist.

The procedure - illegal in most European countries - is especially prevalent in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as in Austria, where an estimated 8,000 girls born into immigrant families have been affected, Dirie said.

``We don't know who's doing it and where,'' because there are few initiatives to prevent it or to encourage doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers and others to report suspected cases, Dirie said. An exception is France, where there is strong awareness and education, she said.

``What good is a law if no one is paying attention?'' Dirie told reporters in Austria, where she was being honored Thursday by a Roman Catholic men's movement for her efforts to stop the practice.

Islamic religious leaders are telling Europe's Muslim Africans that the prophets recommend the ancient ritual, which involves the removal of the clitoris, often with a dull blade and no anesthesia, Dirie said.

``That is a catastrophe,'' she said. ``Every imam who is not actively against genital mutilation is guilty. Mutilation is not a tradition - it's a crime that must be abolished.''

Although women generally perform the procedure, sometimes called female circumcision, men are ultimately responsible because ``untrimmed'' young women ``face great difficulties in African societies in finding a husband,'' Dirie said.

Between 100 million and 140 million women have undergone genital mutilation worldwide, and 2 million girls are at risk each year, according to the World Health Organization, which says the practice can lead to infection, the spread of AIDS and crippling physical, psychological and sexual problems.

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