WUNRN
INDONESIA - FGM - UN HUMAN RIGHTS
COMMITTEE SUBMISSION TO & RESPONSE TO INDONESIA TO STOP FGM
Indonesia
– UN Human Rights Committee Criticizes Medicalization of FGM
In response
to Equality Now and our partner Kalyanamitra’s joint submission to the UN Human
Rights Committee (HRC), the Committee expressed concern of Indonesia’s passage of a regulation
legitimizing FGM and authorizing medical professionals to perform it.
In
its concluding comments, the HRC called on the government to repeal the
regulation, criminalize the practice of FGM and raise public awareness on the
issue.
Direct Link to Full 5-Page
Submission to UN Human Rights Committee:
Type size larger for easier reading.
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UN Human Rights Committee Website on
Session 108, including Documentation of Committee Review on Report of INDONESIA
The UN Human Rights Committee is the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties.
All States parties are obliged to submit regular reports to the Committee on how the rights are being implemented. States must report initially one year after acceding to the Covenant and then whenever the Committee requests (usually every four years). The Committee examines each report and addresses its concerns and recommendations to the State party in the form of "concluding observations”.
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INDONESIA FGM ISSUE HISTORY &
EVOLUTION OF ADVOCACY
25
JUNE 2013 UPDATE: Indonesia came up for review in July 2013 at the 108th
session of the Human Rights Committee which monitors implementation of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by State parties.
Equality Now and our Indonesian partner Kalyanamitra have sent a joint submission to bring the Committee's attention to
the ongoing government legitimization of FGM in Indonesia. We continue to call
on the government of Indonesia to repeal the 2010 Ministry of Health regulation
legitimizing the practice of FGM and to enact and implement comprehensive
legislation banning FGM with strong penalties for violators.
In November 2010, the Indonesian Ministry of Health passed a regulation [No. 1636/MENKES/PER/XI/2010 regarding “Female Circumcision”] legitimizing the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) and authorizing medical professionals to perform it. Though this “medicalization” of FGM permits a procedure that is harmful to girls and women and represents a violation of the ethical code governing the professional conduct of nurses, midwives and other health care workers, efforts to overturn the legislation have been unsuccessful; human rights groups on the ground fear an increase in FGM due to this regulation.
FGM is a harmful traditional practice that affects up to 140 million women and girls around the world. All forms of the practice violate a range of their human rights, including the right to non-discrimination, to protection from physical and mental violence, to the highest, attainable standard of health, and, in the most extreme cases, to the right to life. FGM also constitutes torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), FGM refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. In Indonesia it is generally practiced on baby girls within the first six weeks of birth, but may vary depending on local customs. Reasons given for the practice include religion, custom, “cleanliness” and suppressing sexual desire. According to a 2003 Population Council study surveying eight sites in six provinces among girls aged 15-18, 86-100% had undergone some form of FGM that commonly involves cutting or injury to the clitoris. Approximately 92% of the surveyed families expressed support for the continuation of FGM not only for their daughters but also for their future granddaughters.
The WHO, of which Indonesia is a Member State, has consistently stated that “under no circumstances should FGM be performed by health professionals or in health establishments.” In a 2010 interagency publication, Global strategy to stop health-care providers from performing female genital mutilation, a number of organizations including UN bodies and the WHO found that “[t]he involvement of health-care providers in the performance of FGM is likely to create a sense of legitimacy for the practice. It gives the impression that the procedure is good for health, or at least that it is harmless. This can further contribute to institutionalization of the practice, rendering it a routine procedure and even leading to its spread into cultural groups that currently do not practice it.”
In its 2012 consideration of Indonesia’s report the CEDAW Committee
expressed its deep concern about “the serious regression with regard to the
practice” of FGM and particularly the Ministry of Health’s regulation
authorizing certain medical practitioners to conduct FGM. It called on the
Indonesian Government to withdraw the 2010 regulation and to “adopt robust
legislation which will criminalize all forms of female genital mutilation…and
provide sanctions against offenders”; it went on to call for awareness raising
and sensitization. In its examination of Indonesia in 2008, the Committee
Against Torture also called for the Government to “adopt all adequate measures
to eradicate the persistent practice of female genital mutilation, including
through awareness-raising campaigns in cooperation with civil society
organizations.”
The Indonesian regulation on “Female Circumcision” runs counter to a number of
Indonesian laws which include decrees enshrining international legal
obligations in the national legal framework. These are Law No. 7/1984 on the
ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); Law No. 5/1998 on the ratification of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CAT); Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights; Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection;
Law No. 23/2004 on the Elimination of Domestic Violence; and Law No. 23/2009 on
Health.
Indonesia is also a member of the World Health Assembly of the WHO which passed a resolution in 2008 urging all member states to accelerate work towards the elimination of FGM, to enact and enforce legislation against the practice and to prohibit performance of FGM by any person including medical professionals. The Indonesian Society of Obstetrics & Gynecology is a member of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) which passed a resolution opposing “any attempt to medicalize FGM or to allow its performance, under any circumstances, in health establishments or by health professionals.” In addition, the Indonesian National Nurses Association is a member of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the Indonesian Midwives Association is a member of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), both of whom also have position statements against FGM and its medicalization.