WUNRN
URGENT APPEAL TO SAVE KENYA GIRLS FROM EXCISION/FGM BY
DIRECTOR OF INTER-AFRICAN COMMITTEE ON TRADITIONAL PRACTICES
It is with great sense of alarm and shock that we learnt of
the excision ritual that is taking place in the Pokot district in
According to the report we received so many girls have been excised and about a 100 more are awaiting their turn. In this day and age when several international instruments have been signed and accepted to protect women and girls from violence such public carnage cannot and should not be tolerated by the international community. We would like to call upon all well meaning individuals, organizations, which stand for basic human rights to life and dignity to take all necessary actions to stop this unacceptable behaviour and practice. We call upon the Government of Kenya to declare a state of emergency and to mobilize all forces and efforts to save the lives of these innocent girls lined up to be sacrificed in the name of tradition and culture.
Thank you for your urgent attention to this call. Pleasediffuse this message widely through your networks and contacts to other human rights activists.
Yours Sincerely
Berhane Ras-Work
Executive Director
Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC)
145 Rue de Lausanne
CH-1202 Geneva
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 731 24 20 / +41 22 732 08 21
Fax: +41 22 738 18 23
E-mail: cominter@iprolink.ch
www.iac-ciaf.net
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----- Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
ListServe
To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:58 PM
Subject: Kenya - FGM - 350 Teenage Girls to Face the Knife + Appeal
WUNRN
ATTACHED IS THE INTER-AFRICAN
COMMITTEE ON TRADITIONAL PRACTICES AFFECTING THE HEALTH OF WOMEN & GIRLS
(IAC), DIPLOMATIC LETTER OF APPEAL TO STOP THIS KENYA FGM RITUAL.
______________________________________________________________________
November 25, 2009
At least 350 teenage girls are to be circumcised in the next two weeks in Marakwet East and Pokot Central districts.
A pre-initiation ceremony known as kitung'a will take place in Kapsiren village, Koibirir location, on the Friday that schools are to close. A source from the provincial administration and several primary school teachers told the Nation at Tot trading centre on Tuesday that according to cultural beliefs, the stars, prevailing weather patterns, and other key elements had signalled that the initiations should go on in the next two weeks.
About 120 girls aged between nine and 16 years are to undergo the rite in Endow, Kaben, and Koibirir locations while 60 others are targeted in Cheptulel in Marakwet. In the neighbouring Lomut and Arpolo sub-locations in Pokot Central, more than 150 girls will undergo the cut.
Koibirir chief Alfrick Lorem said the teenagers are to be initiated during the December holidays. The initiations come amid stern warnings by the government that perpetrators would be prosecuted. Human rights activists have also threatened to sue the perpetrators of the outlawed practice. Separately, three married women were circumcised on tuesday in Chepkwawai village in Chebororwa location, Marakwet West District.
According to anti-female genital mutilation crusaders, one of the women claimed that she was forced to undergo the rite or face excommunication by the society and divorce by her husband. The other two admitted that they had consented to be circumcised. Marakwet East district commissioner Joseph Kisangau put FGM practitioners in the district on notice.
"We have instructed chiefs to be on the look-out throughout the December holiday. Should anyone circumcise a girl or woman, they will be arrested and prosecuted," he warned. Marakwet West district children's officer Peter Kutere said the government had criminalised forced circumcision of girls and warned parents that they risked being jailed if their daughters underwent the rite.
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