Cyprus must protect mutilated women

DESPITE the lack of official statistics it is believed that some 1,500 female immigrants in Cyprus come from countries where female genital mutilation is practised, according to Christina Kaili at the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS).

Kaili was speaking during a House Human Rights Committee meeting with Christine Loudes, campaign director for End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

According to Kaili, Cyprus should focus on providing protection and support to these women who come to the island as immigrants.

Two immigrant women in 2011 were found to have undergone FGM, according to Laura Iacovidou at the Asylum Service. The two women had to go to the hospital after an infection caused by the mutilation.

The practise affects half a million women in the EU, according to Loudes. Worldwide the risk is about 8,000 women or girls a day, with around 7,400 at risk of contracting HIV.

Kaili said that MIGS, as part of their campaign programme against FGM in conjunction with Amnesty International, organised a workshop for professionals who deal with asylum seekers as well as health practitioners in order to make them aware of the problem.

According to Loudes, the European Commission has requested that MIGS map the prevalence, legislation, policies and practices of FGM in the EU with a view to inform decision makers. She said that the study is expected to be released when Cyprus takes over the EU presidency.

“The campaign urges the honourable members of this committee to ensure that the Cypriot government leads its European counterparts in the development of an action plan based on the findings of this study,” she said.

Committee head Sophocles Fyttis called the practise an ‘anachronism and barbaric’ saying that since 2003 certain provisions were made to the penal code allowing for anyone performing FGM to be imprisoned for up to five years.

Fyttis also said that he will send a letter to EU Education Commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou in an effort to better support the campaign during the presidency.

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