French Demographic Institute INED condems Medicalisation of FGM + Intersex Genital Mutilations!

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Hear, hear!   In the latest >>> issue 543 of “Population & Societies” (PDF) of the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED), on p. 3 authors Armelle Androand Marie Lesclingand not only condemn the increasing medicalisation of FGM, but in the same sentence bravely also IGM practices – thank you! (One would only wish they’d refrain from euphemising involuntary treatments of intersex children as “sex reassignment surgery” in the future …)

Also the BanFGM conference in Rome highlighted “counterproductive approaches to combatting FGM, such as medicalization”, and included “intersex genital mutilations” in its Final Declaration.

Notably, it’s often the very same surgeons performing both FGM and IGM – how much longer?!

«The medicalization of FGM

While in the majority of cases FGM is still performed by  “traditional” practitioners, in a number of countries (Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen), increasing numbers of girls are undergoing FGM at the hands of health professionals in a medical context under the pretext of reducing the health risks of the procedure. On the initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), international organizations have condemned this trend, based on a misinterpretation of the first awareness campaigns, as it compromises the goal of eradicating FGM.

In this context, it should be remembered that certain population categories were also subjected to these practices in northern countries until very recently. Throughout the 19th century (and until the 1960s in the United States), clitoridectomies were practiced as a means to repress forms of female sexuality judged to be deviant by the medical  profession – and are still performed today as part of sex reassignment surgery on intersex newborns. Moreover, new forms of genital plastic surgery such as nymphoplasty (partial or total removal of the labia minora, sometimes accompanied by reduction of the clitoral hood) are now developing in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.»

See also:
• UN Committee for the Rights of the Child (CRC): IGM = Harmful Practice + Violence
• UN Committee against Torture (CAT): IGM = Inhuman Treatment or Torture
• UN Women’s Rights Committee (CEDAW): IGM = Harmful Practice
• UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Violation of Integrity
• UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) to examine IGM Practices
• CAT 2011: Germany must investigate IGM practices and compensate survivors!

Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common Forms
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM – Historical Overview • What is Intersex? • How Common are IGMs?
>>> Download PDF (3.65 MB)     >>> Table of Contents

IGM as a Harmful Practice: UN-CRC Briefing
• IGM: A Survivor’s Perspective • Intersex Movement History
• What are Variations of Sex Anatomy?  • What are IGM Practices?
• IGM and Human Rights  • Conclusion: IGM as a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB)     >>> Table of Contents