By Mark Ellis
The radical group ISIS is seeking to impose female genital mutilation (FGM) in Mosul, a top UN official in Iraq told the BBC.
The edict stated that all females aged 11 and 46 in Mosul must undergo the procedure, UN official Jacqueline Badcock reported.
Badcock said the extraordinary pronouncement was of grave concern.
Iraq is facing a radical insurgency led by ISIS, with Mosul and other cities in the northwest part of Iraq under their control since June.
Some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities practice female circumcision in the belief it prepares women for adulthood and marriage.
FGM poses many health risks to women, including severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections, infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth, according to the World Health Organization.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution in 2012 calling for all member states to prohibit the practice.
The ISIS edict could affect nearly four million women and girls in and around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the UN spokesperson advised.
Ms. Badcock spoke to reporters via video link from the Kurdish provincial capital of Irbil. “This is not the will of
the Iraqi people, or the women of Iraq in these vulnerable areas covered by the terrorists,” she told the BBC.
Some observers have challenged the veracity of the FGM edict. Jenan Moussa, a correspondent for Dubai-based broadcaster Al AAan TV, noted in a tweet that her contacts in Mosul had not heard of it.
ISIS forced Christians in Mosul out of the city earlier this week and marked their homes with the Arabic letter N to identify them as Christians. Many believers lost all their possessions as they fled, the BBC reported.
Ms Badcock said only 20 Christian families remain in Mosul, which ISIS has declared will be the capital of its Islamic caliphate.
Thousands have fled into Kurdish-controlled territory in the north, according to the BBC.
Some of the Christians who remained have converted to Islam, while others have opted to stay and pay the “jiyza,” the tax imposed by ISIS on non-Muslims, the UN official added. Various reports say the tax amounts to about $100 per month.
Female genital mutilation includes “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” It is practiced in 29 countries in Africa and some countries in Asia and the Middle East, according to the World Health Organization.
An estimated three million girls and women worldwide are at risk each year. About 125 million victims are estimated to be living with the consequences. It is often carried out on young girls, between infancy and the age of 15.
This is an abomination to all female infants girls and all women, this needs to be stopped!!!!
The UN is so busy condemning Israel they are allowing this abomination to take place. Perhaps we need more women involved or perhaps we need to disband the UN…
It has nothing to do with Israel’s war crimes. There are many fires going on right now and the UN is capable of handling them. It is also not the fault of the UN. You can pass laws & people just ignore them (Israel has had over 22 UN sanctions & just ignores them). Many girls look forward to it as a rite of passage & girls who haven’t been cut are unmarryable. The only solution to FGM is public health education in these countries–village by village. For a good discussion, read “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas Kristof (NYT journalist) & Sheryl WuDunn.
U.N. Is not welcome in my book!
Each nation should not even join this Group, I say each nation to there own.
People should take control of there own towns,city’s,local to state and federal government.
But I believe God has allowed U.N. to continue so his word will be fulfilled.
P.S. I know your going to say they are! Wrong.
Indonesia’s government has official policies for female genital cutting too, so stop acting like this is news. In both places nearly all males are cut as well. Big surprise that they would want females to suffer like they did. End all forced genital cutting and we’ll go a long way to having a more peaceful world.
Of course ,I don’t know the purpose and meaning of it .
Cutting any part of the body is not going to give a man or woman a holy life .Only the Spirit of God ( obtained properly ) can enable anyone lead a holy and saintly life . Circumcised men do commit adultery and the related inhuman things like anything … God save them …In Jesus’ Name ..Amen …!
unfortunately all the news about israel Palestinian firing missiles from schools and they get automatic reply to the same location very coward to put there children under fire hopeless UN hapless Obama nothing been mentioned about mosul and what happing in iraq everyday young girls are suffering , 1000’s of people are murdered no one care . i guess iraqi blood of innocent are so cheap comparing to the Palestinians who kills there children intentionally and cry on the tv strait after just to get the world attention
Looking at the Google image results made me cry. I’m the victim of genital mutilation by the hands of a man. I’m 23, and the effect its had on me is just devastating I don’t pray a lot but I pray to anyone who’s listening that this isn’t imposed on those poor girls, or anyone, ever again. I’m lucky to live in America because I know nothing of the real world, the world where this is practiced and where people are getting beheaded.
Looks like I’m safe, for now..
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