The campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) across many countries remains at collision with cultures of practicing communities vis a vis the promotion of globalisation.
Some people from communities still practicing FGM especially in Africa have been escaping the excruciating pain of sharp razors that slice off sensitive part of their genitals as an initiation into adulthood.
Around 200 million women and girls worldwide are affected by genital mutilation according to figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund Unicef.
Now Schleswig-Holstein’s Equal Opportunities Minister Aminata Touré member of the German green party (Greens) has pushed for the unrestricted recognition of this practice as a reason for asylum in Germany .
If the federal government wants to implement the Istanbul Convention without reservation, this means “that the rights of refugee women and girls must now also be given greater consideration and gender-specific violence must be recognized as a reason for asylum,” said the Green politician in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
Touré also spoke out in favor of better educating women and girls about their rights.
“The mere fact that many of those affected do not exactly know their rights or do not dare to address the issue openly can reduce their chances in the asylum procedure.”
Employees at the Federal Office for Migration should therefore be specially trained to be sensitive to the situation of women enter, so Touré.
The human rights organization Terre des Femmes estimated that more than 100,000 girls and women were genitally mutilated in Germany last year.
More than 17,000 would be considered endangered, the organization said at the time.
