18 December 2008
EGYPT: 97% OF MARRIED WOMEN UNDERGO GENITAL MUTILATION
(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JUNE 27 - A total 97% of the married Egyptian women has suffered genital mutilation, and the area where this practice is most frequent (99%) is in the governorship of Qena, in the south of the country. In Matrouh, on the Mediterranean coast
towards Libya, the lowest percentage (25%) is registered. According to the study 'National Project Against Female Circumcision', held by the Minister of Health in cooperation with the United Nations DAG Programme, the percentage is lower in the urban centres (94.6%), higher in the country (98.8%), while in the Sinai it decreases to 37%, Egyptian independent daily 'Al Masri el Yom' reports. Among uneducated women, 99.1% have suffered the circumcision; among educated women (secondary school or university), the percentage gets down to 94%. The percentage of women in favour of the circumcision is 85% in Upper Egypt compared to 50% in the North; 50% of the educated women and 87.5% of the uneducated women are also in favour. Two days ago the Chief Mufti of Egypt said that the "harmful tradition of the female circumcision is prohibited by Islam", after the death of an 11-year old girl following an excessive dose of anesthetic given during the operation. The wife of the Egiptian president, Suzanne Mubarak, who is in charge of the government's consulting commission for Maternity and Childhood, launched today a "national campaign against female circumcision". (ANSAmed
11:51 Posted in Egypt | Permalink | Comments (0) | 
Facebook |
The comments are closed.