WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/20/efua-dorkenoo-dies-leading-fgm-campaigner

 

TRIBUTE TO EFUA DORKENOO, AFRICAN FEMALE WARRIOR AGAINST FGM.

 

Efua Dorkenoo OBE, woman warrior against FGM, has died. Dorkenoo's lifelong dream of a global, Africa-led movement against FGM, was realised just a week before her death.

   

Efua Dorkenoo

 

Efua Dorkenoo OBE, whose many achievements include co-founding FORWARD in 1983, writing the key text on FGM in 1994 and campaigning on the issue through her time at the WHO and Equality Now. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian 

 

By Alexandra Topping - 20 October 2014

Efua Dorkenoo, widely seen as the mother of the global movement to end female genital mutilation, has died after undergoing treatment for cancer, her family have confirmed. She was 65. Dorkenoo – known affectionately to many as “mama Efua” – was a leading light in the movement to bring an end to FGM for more than 30 years, campaigning against the practice since the 1980s.

Efua Dorkenoo, widely seen as the mother of the global movement to end female genital mutilation, has died after undergoing treatment for cancer, her family have The girls’ and women’s rights campaigner saw the progression of the movement to end FGM go from a minority, often ignored, issue to a key policy priority for governments across the world. Proof of this arrived with the launch of The Girl Generation on October 10 – a major Africa-led campaign to tackle FGM across the globe, run by a consortium of charities and organisations and funded by the department for international development. Dorkenoo – the natural choice to lead the consortium, wrote simply on the day of its launch: “ Finally, The Girl Generation: Together to End FGM is here, and I hope you like it.” A week later she died in hospital.

Dorkenoo was born on 6 September 1949 in Ghana, but moved to London when she was 19 and became a staff nurse in various London hospitals from 1977. Working with African women in the UK, she became aware of the health and mental complications that result from FGM and began campaigning against the practice with the human rights organisation Minority Rights Group.

She went on to gain a masters degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and was an honorary senior research fellow at the School of Health Sciences at City University, London.

In 1983 she co-founded FORWARD (The Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development), which became a leading organisation in the battle to raise awareness about FGM. The procedure, which still affects more than 125 million girls and women worldwide and is widely practised in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, was outlawed in the UK in 1985. She published a seminal text on FGM – Cutting the Rose: Female Genital Mutilation: The Practice and Prevention, in 1994.

Dorkenoo was instrumental in getting FGM on the agenda in ministries of health while working at the World Health Organisation from 1995-2001, and went on to become the advocacy director and then senior advisor on FGM at the human rights organisation Equality Now. She was awarded an OBE in recognition of her campaigning work against FGM.

End FGM campaigner Nimko Ali – who worked closely with Dorkenoo at the Girl Generation and is an FGM survivor – said the veteran campaigner had been the inspiration for much of her own work against the practice.

“Efua was an amazing woman – that term is used lightly but her passion and commitment to the cause were truly amazing,” she said. “She started campaigning so that girls like me would not be cut in future, and thanks to her generations of girls in the future will not have to go through FGM.”

Dorkenoo had not only changed policy in the UK and overseas, she had made a personal difference to many survivors’ lives, she added. “She was a giant on whose shoulders we stand, she prepared the way for us, and even though she did not see the end of FGM in her generation, it will end – and that is thanks to her.”

Leyla Hussein, co-founder of Daughters of Eve with Ali, said the formation of an African-led movement against FGM was Dorkenoo’s lifelong dream and despite ill-health her last months were spent visiting everyone from politicians to village leaders across the world. “The Girl Generation was Efua’s baby and she had been trying to make it happen for 30 years,” she said. “Last week Efua gave birth to it, with every last breath she had she worked to make that happen. She was an incredible African female warrior and she never gave up.”

Brendan Wynne, media manager at Equality Now said: “Efua literally changed the course of history, but she made you feel like you could do so too. She banged on doors for decades – usually by herself – but never gave up. She was the most amazing friend you could hope for and now has a dedicated network of inspired and driven people to take her work on and finish the job she started.” Dorkenoo leaves behind her husband Freddie and sons Kobina and Ebow.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

----- Original Message -----

From: WUNRN ListServe

To: WUNRN ListServe

Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:24 AM

Subject: FGM - Campaigners Against FGM Face Abuse, Violence +

 

WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/08/female-genital-mutilation-death-intimidation

 

FGM - CAMPAIGNERS AGAINST FGM FACE ABUSE, VIOLENCE, DEATH THREATS, & INTIMIDATION

Women who speak out against barbaric operations against young girls face danger and abuse from their own ethnic groups

 

Efua Dorkenoo says women face abuse, physical violence and sometimes have to move home if they speak out against FGM.

By Amelia Hill – The Guardian – 8 May 2013

Girls and women who speak out against female genital mutilation are being attacked, abused and harassed by members of their communities determined to keep the crime a secret.

The Guardian has spoken to women who have received death threats, been publicly assaulted and who have had to move house after speaking out about FGM, which involves cutting away some or all of a girl's external genitalia and can include sewing up the vagina. It is mostly carried out on girls some time between infancy and the age of 15.

Nimko Ali, a 29-year-old British-Somalian, was taken to Somalia for the procedure when she was seven. "I never told anyone I had FGM, not even my best friend, because I saw what happened to women in the UK who did speak out and saw it as a warning sign," said Ali, who has set up a group called Daughters of Eve to campaign against the procedure.

"I only decided to go public very recently after seeing other girls put themselves in danger by speaking out. The weeks afterwards were the most horrifying of my life. I lost friends – one even offered to kill me for £500."

The abuse, Ali said, had not waned. "A man recently threw a liquid in my face in the street . I was terrified; I thought it was acid. He was screaming that I was 'a slag' and needed to learn some shame."

FGM is not condoned by any religion. It is illegal in the UK to carry out the procedure, take a British citizen abroad to have the operation, or assist in carrying out FGM abroad, whether or not it is against the law in that country.

But although almost 160 incidents were recorded in the 2008-09 British crime survey, there have been no convictions since it was criminalised in 1985. Although FGM is incorporated into child protection, at present no data is collected on the number or type of social-work cases involving it in the UK.

Efua Dorkenoo, a director at Equality Now, regularly receives death threats aimed at stopping her campaigns against FGM. "I'm told my offence in speaking out is greater than that of Salman Rushdie and that I should die," she said.

"Any woman or girl who speaks out against FGM is in very serious danger from extended members of their family, their neighbours and from their community, especially from so-called gatekeepers of their community who control and harass them if they raise their voices.

The intimidation is extreme. Girls and women are physically attacked in the street and followed at night. The windows of their houses are broken. They receive anonymous phone calls from men shouting intimidation and threats.

One woman was pushed to the ground and kicked – she had a child who was threatened too, and she ended up having to move house.

"You can't speak out against it without risking your life. I'm aware of three young girls who are currently in care for this very reason."

Dorkenoo says the backlash against women who speak out is getting more extreme. "It's getting worse for young girls because social media means they can be threatened and harassed by people outside of their community, including by family members back in Africa who are told what they're doing."

The first and only major piece of FGM research at a national level was in 2007 by the charity Forward, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the department of midwifery at City University, which was funded by the Department of Health.

The research, which used the 2001 census, found there were at least 66,000 women with FGM estimated to be living in England and Wales.

It identified around 21,000 girls aged eight or younger at high risk of FGM. It also found that more than 11,000 girls aged nine or over had a high probability of already having suffered FGM.

Muna Hassan, an 18-year-old member of the charity Integrate Bristol, a charity that helps young people from other countries and cultures, has suffered for her outspoken support of the group's campaign against FGM. "Men harass and intimidate us girls all the time," she said.

"We made a film about FGM called Silent Scream and they spread rumours that we were being paid to make a pornographic film. They rang our fathers anonymously and said we were humiliating our families in public.

"It horrified our parents and quite a few girls weren't allowed to do the project any more because of it.

"These are people who promote themselves as community leaders and elders. The scary thing is that these are the people that councillors and politicians go to when they want to discuss community issues."

Last week, prosecutors and police announced that they were to reopen investigations into six alleged FGM incidents between 2009 and 2012.

A separate inquiry is under way into an alleged conspiracy to carry out FGM on a girl in London. An eighth case, in which the Met police say they have clear evidence, is being considered by prosecutors.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________