. original text

41% of women in Iraq’s Kurdistan circumcised – survey

Some 41% of the women in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region were circumcised, a survey conducted by the region’s health ministry revealed on Sunday.

“The issue of female circumcision is hyped up by the media. However, a recent health ministry survey said 41% of the women in the Kurdish cities of Arbil and Sulaimaniya were circumcised while the practice did not exist at all in Duhuk,” Jameel Rasheed, the ministry’s health department director, said during a press conference in Arbil. He pointed out that the ministry is working hard to eliminate this “phenomenon”, which, he said, was more common amongst adults. “The practice is being applied on children below the age of five”. Female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), is any procedure involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious or other non-therapeutic reasons.