Somalis Influx Causes Concern
The East African Standard (Nairobi) June 27, 2002
Renson Mnyamwezi
Voi MP Basil Mwakiringo has raised concern over the influx of unlicensed Somali livestock traders into Taita Taveta District.
Mwakiringo said the traders pose a security risk to locals and appealed to the Government to address the situation.
The legislator, who was speaking in Wundanyi town yesterday, claimed that the traders were scaring away women collecting firewood in areas adjacent to them. He said the district had in the past been prone to banditry and the continued presence of Somalis in the area would impact negatively on security. He claimed that some of the traders have no movement permits in contravention of livestock movement regulations.
He said some of the traders originate from as far as Ethiopia and Somalia.
Area DC James ole Seriani said the Government was currently focusing on the problem and will take action immediately.
The affected areas include Maungu, Kasigau, Taita, Rukinga and Amaka ranches where the traders have leased land from local farmers for pasture. Here, they fatten their animals before transporting them to Mombasa for sale in the Middle East.
Copyright © 2002 The East African Standard.
European Report, June 26, 2002 p502
EU/SOMALIA: COMMISSION GRANTS EURO 50 MILLION AID PACKAGE. (Brief Article)
The European Commission has cleared a Euro 50 million two year aid package to promote peace in the war-torn east African state of Somalia. The Fourth Rehabilitation Programme will support to poverty alleviation by enhancing good governance, reconciliation and peace-building; reducing vulnerability of the population, improving access to basic social services; and contributing to economic growth and diversification. At the same time, the Commission says it is essential that Somalis themselves, but also the regional and the international community reinforce their support for a reconciliation process leading to the establishment of a peaceful, equitable and democratic society.The programme will draw on the resources from the eighth European Development Fund (EDF) granted in December 2001 to Somalia, one of the world's poorest and least developed countries. A further allocation of Euro 149 million from the ninth EDF is due to complement this aid, but this will only become available once the Partnership Agreement is fully ratified. Given the limited resources compared to the needs, the Commission says it can only make a contribution to these objectives. "Ultimately their achievement remains largely the responsibility of Somalis themselves," the Commission's summary of its aid says. European non-governmental organisations will be responsible for individual projects funded under the programme."Somalia was created in 1960 and since then, its development has been hindered by territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. In a 1991 coup, opposing clans failed to agree on a replacement regime and plunged the country into lawlessness and clan warfare. Warlords supported by heavily armed militias have ruled the areas under their control: the resulting inter-militia fighting and inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the death of up to one million people. The United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM) began in January 1992, starting with a small Cease-fire Observer Force, but after 70 UN troops were killed, the situation was considered too unstable for peacekeepers, and the last troops left Mogadishu in March 1995JJ:(LC)
Africa Continued Fighting in Somalia Dampens Prospects for Reconcilation Talks
Voice of America, Katy Salmon, Nairobi, 21 Jun 2002 16:55 UTC
Listen to Katy Salmon's Report from Nairobi (RealAudio)
Inter-clan fighting in southern Somalia has claimed the lives of more than 20 people this week. The fighting has also dampened prospects for a reconciliation conference of Somalia's warring factions. But at least one faction leader said he is still planning to go to the conference, but he sees little prospect for reconciliation.
The reconciliation talks are due to start in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, next month. One key player in the region is Hassan Mohamed Shatigadud, head of the self-proclaimed state of South Western Somalia.
Established in March, it is the third regional administration to be set up in Somalia since it descended into anarchy in 1991. Its capital is Baidoa, about 250 kilometers west of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Mr. Shatigadud blamed Somalia's transitional national government, or TNG, in Mogadishu, for the current unrest.
The TNG was established almost two years ago, but it has failed to extend its rule much beyond the capital. Warlords like Mr. Shatigadud control far larger amounts of territory in Somalia. Mr. Shatigadud said TNG President Abdikassim Salad Hassan should accept that he is just another faction leader.
"We have advised and persuaded Abdikassim not to claim national presidency of Somalia, and he is stubborn. He is controlling nothing. He is waiting only the money that he is receiving from Arab countries. He has nothing to do. He has to come to Nairobi as a faction. I will meet him, but I will challenge [him], and say you are not a president," Mr. Shatigadud said.
The Nairobi conference will mark the first time that Mr. Shatigadud's Rahanweyn Resistance Army has attended peace talks.
The faction leader hopes both armed and unarmed groups will join together to form a federal state. "We will attend it, and we hope that the outcome will be the establishment of a transitional government for Somalia, agreed by all the Somalis, whether they are armed or unarmed. We want [from] bottom up approach, and finally, a federal state. Four, or three parts of south plus north will be the Somali state," he said.
The Nairobi peace conference will be the 15th major conference aimed at restoring peace to Somalia since its government collapsed over a decade ago.
United Nations, SC/7426, 18 June 2002
PRESS STATEMENT ON SOMALIA BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT
Following is today’s press statement on Somalia by the President of the Security Council, Mikhail Wehbe (Syria):
Members of the Council received a briefing by Carolyn McAskie, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, on the humanitarian situation in Somalia.
Members of the Council express their deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Somalia, including in the northern parts of the Gedo region, where successive waves of fighting have caused casualties, large-scale internal displacement and outflow of refugees, while also disrupting the provisions of the humanitarian assistance to the populations in the region.
Members of the Council express concern at the presence of refugees along the border, and urge neighbouring states to live up to their international obligations to move refugees away from border areas.
Members of the Council, expressing their concern that without the
re-establishment of humanitarian access in the Gedo region the population could suffer dramatically, calls on all parties involved to fulfil urgently their obligations to guarantee the access and safety to all humanitarian agencies and their personnel.
Members of the Council, underlining the interlinkages between the humanitarian situation and the efforts for peace and the building of institutions in Somalia, condemns the renewed violence further undermining the prosperity and lives of the people and the peace process in the country.
Members of the Council are deeply concerned about the continued and destabilizing flow of weapons and ammunition supplies to Somalia from other countries and express their determination to generate independent information on violations of the arms embargo established by resolution 733 (1992), in accordance with resolution 1407 (2002).
Members of the Council underline that problems in livestock exports have severely affected the humanitarian situation in Somalia, and encourage States who maintain the ban to take active steps towards the resumption of livestock imports from Somalia.
Members of the Council express concern about the under-funding of the
UN Inter-Agency Appeal for Somalia for 2002 and encourage donors to come forward with contributions to help alleviating the suffering of the Somali people.
Xinhua News Agency, June 18, 2002
U.N. Security Council Voices Concern Over Humanitarian Situation in Somalia.
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 18, 2002
Members of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday voiced their deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Somalia, calling on all parties involved to fulfill their obligations to guarantee the access and safety to all relief agencies and their personnel.
Mikhail Wehbe, the council's current president, said in a press statement that the council was worried about the situation in the northern parts of the Gedo region, where successive waves of fighting have caused casualties, large-scale internal displacement and outflow of refugees.
"They were concerned that without the re-establishment of humanitarian access in the Gedo region, the population could suffer dramatically," Wehbe said, adding that council members also expressed concern at the presence of refugees along the border, and urged neighboring states to live up to their international obligations to move them away from border areas.
Underlining the linkages between the humanitarian situation and the efforts for peace and the building of institutions in Somalia, the statement condemned the renewed violence further undermining the prosperity and lives of the people and the country's peace process.
"Members of the Council are deeply concerned about the continued and destabilizing flow of weapons and ammunition supplies to Somalia from other countries," he said.
Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Carolyn McAskie briefed council members on the humanitarian situation in Somalia, highlighting the link between the generally slow progress on the political front and a continued deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
Africa News Service, June 17, 2002
Refugee Crisis is Feared May Give Way to Terrorism.
Nairobi, Jun 17, 2002
When a plane carrying illegal Somali immigrants breached Kenya's airspace undetected and landed at a rural airstrip on June 7, the magnitude of the security risk posed by the increasing refugee problem came into play. The desperate search for asylum and the collapse of the Somali State gave its face of the international security threat.
Although the Minister in charge of State security Julius Sunkuli says 'Kenya's airspace is safe', the security lapse has given indication of how far the refugees can go to seek illegal asylum in an improvised country like Kenya and how easy it is for terrorists to take advantage of security lapses and make their case known to the world.
On May 24th, a plane carrying 21 illegal Somali immigrants landed at a rural airstrip in Masinga about 100 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi, without official permission. The airstrip serves Masinga Dam, a strategic electricity generating facility providing 70 percent of Kenya's electricity needs.
Somali borders Kenya to the North Eastern. Hundreds of refugees coming from the fighting in Gedo region of Bulla Hawa have invaded the border town of Mandera, prompting an outbreak of dysentry and bringing in small arms into Kenya.
New evidence says that Somali is likely to be used by terrorist groups as their base if urgent measures are not taken by the international community to restore the governance systems.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report in Nairobi on May 23 entitled, "Somalia: Countering terrorism in a failed state" that calls for a restabilisation policy wider than that of counter-terrorism. The report calls for all-inclusive diplomatic efforts to return Somali to normalcy.
"Diplomatic efforts should aim to defuse immediate tensions both inside Somalia and among competing regional states that threaten to plunge Somalia into wider war, and to strengthen the existing regional peace initiative", said ICG Africa Program Co-Director John Prendergast.
Somalia has largely been forgotten since the last United Nations peacekeepers pulled out in 1995, and current peace initiatives have run out of steam. The recent escalation in fighting between competing factions backed by regional benefactors threatens the little local progress made on economic recovery and the rule of law.
ICG says that no Western military operation can make Somalia safe from terrorism. Military threats, intelligence gathering and perhaps limited military operations to seize certain individuals may deter terrorists from using Somalia as a haven in the short run. "But such a strategy is unsustainable if it is not linked with a process aimed ultimately at reconciliation and the reconstitution of a functioning state" notes the report.
Western countries including United States government suspects that al-Qaeda may have used Somalia as a staging area or safe haven in the past and remains concerned that it could do so again because of the country's highly fragmented internal security situation.
by Stephen Mbogo
Copyright African Church Information Service. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com)
Africa Kenya Agrees to Host 5,000 Somalian Refugees
Dale Gavlak, Geneva, 14 Jun 2002 14:44 UTC
Listen to Dale Gavlak's report
After weeks of negotiation, the United Nations House Committee on Refugees won Kenya's approval to relocate 5,000 Somalian refugees. The move will put the refugees farther away from the border area where clan fighting has made life dangerous.
The UN refugee agency called the decision by Kenyan authorities a "welcome breakthrough," allowing it to move the Somali refugees to an existing camp further inland.
UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski says the Somalis have been stranded for nearly two months at a makeshift camp in Mandera along the unsafe border between Kenya and Somalia. "Dozens of people, mostly children, died during several weeks of this very, very unfortunate situation with 5,000 people sitting in the middle of nowhere," he said from Geneva. "Now...we are mobilizing trucks to move the people. We will probably start moving them on Tuesday. It's quite complicated. It's a long way, about 500 kilometers, on terrible roads in northern Kenya which is bandit infested. We will have to arrange police escorts."
Mr. Janowski says UNHCR and partner agencies will continue to aid vulnerable refugees, particularly more than 60 severely malnourished children among the 200 admitted to a local hospital for therapeutic feeding.
He says Kenyan officials may have been reluctant to allow more Somalis further inside the country because of the large number of refugees it already hosts. "While we understand their concerns about increasing the number of refugees hosted by Kenya," he said, "at the same time this is not a huge group. It is a group that has been in a particularly difficult situation.
Kenya hosts about 130,000 Somalis among the 250,000 refugees that have fled to the East African nation from neighboring countries.
Since mid-April, more than 10,000 Somalis have fled clan fighting in the Somali town of Bula Hawa across the border from Mandera. UNHCR says nearly half of these people returned home last month, reportedly under pressure from both Somali and Kenyan officials.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter, June 8, 2002, N. 999
Two American Experts Take a Tour.
Last week, eastern Africa witnessed the tour of two advisers from the U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee. In the company of Glen Warren, the diplomat in charge of Somalia at the American embassy in Nairobi, Jeffrey Gibbs and Philip Griffin flew first to Ethiopia, and before heading to Djibouti and Asmara, spent a few hours in Somaliland to meet with newly -inaugurated President Dahir Riyale Kahin. The two men work on the staff of Jesse Helms, the foreign relations committee's top Republican honcho and therefore its number two official. Previously in the state department, Gibbs now works as an adviser of that Senate committee. As for Griffin, he was a member of the International Republican Institute (IRI) before becoming an official at the Senate committee's African affairs department at the beginning of the year.
www.africaintelligence.com
Kenya permits construction of feeding centres for starving Somali refugees - UN agency
United Nations, 4 June 2002
Following the death of 10 Somali refugees, including eight children, from disease and malnutrition, local authorities in north-eastern Kenya have allowed aid workers to set up three supplementary feeding centres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today.
Construction work on the first feeding centre near the town of Mandera is set to begin Wednesday and is expected to be completed within a week, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva. The first centre will cater to refugees at a nearby, makeshift camp - which hosts up to 5,000 Somali refugees - along the volatile Kenya-Somalia border area. The other two centres, to be set up in Mandera itself, will meet the supplementary feeding needs of the local population and refugees living with family and friends.
Health workers have reported that the number of severely malnourished children in Mandera Hospital had risen to 147 by the end of last week, some 40 per cent of them refugees, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said. At Border Point 1, some 800 of the 2,000 children there were moderately malnourished while 400 pregnant or lactating mothers were in urgent need of supplementary feeding. Yesterday, the UN agency flew in more than a ton of medical supplies to support the local hospital.
According to Mr. Janowski, relief agencies have been unable to distribute aid to refugees at the temporary Border Point 1 encampment due to its close proximity to the border and the fear of attacks by armed militia from across the border, a mere 500 metres away.
"The Kenyan Government is yet to authorize the transfer of the refugees to safer locations inside the country, despite weeks of negotiations with UNHCR," Mr. Janowski said, adding that a relocation convoy organized last week to move the first group of 150 refugees to a refugee camp some 500 kilometres further south was called off after the government failed to give the final green light.
"UNHCR is still pressing for government authorization to either move the refugees to a more secure location in the Mandera area or to existing refugee camps in Dadaab," he said.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter, June 1, 2002, N. 998
Elijah Wasike Mwangale
Clashes between rival Somalian factions served to cancel the first visit that Kenya's former foreign minister (1984-1987) was to have carried out in Mogadishu as President Daniel arap Moi's special envoy. Elijah Wasike Mwangale had been put in charge of heading the technical committee on Somalia established within the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) with a view to relaunching the organization's mediation on Somalia. But his task will prove to be arduous because the Somalia reconciliation summit planned for May 2002 in Nairobi has already been rescheduled several times. Elijah Wasike Mwangale has a long political career behind him. Elected a member of parliament of the ruling Kenya African National Union (Kanu) as early as 1969, the native of the western district of Bungoma was noticed as president of the parliament's investigation commission looking into the death of the politician J M Kariuki. He was appointed agriculture minister in 1979, where he remained a full five years, until 1984. After he was made head of the foreign ministry, he was beaten by Mukhisa Kituyi, a member of the opposition Ford-Kenya party, in the general elections of 1992. Elijah Wasike Mwangale then forsook politics to become president of the Kenya Bureau of Standards, but he has remained head of Kanu's Bungoma section, and is considering to run in the coming legislative elections in the Saboti district, a seat currently held by a Ford-Kenya leader, Kijana Wamalwa.
www.AfricaIntelligence.com
Africa News Service, May 30, 2002
UN Committee Alarmed By Weapons Flows.
A UN Security Council committee has expressed "grave alarm" over the large-scale use of military weapons in Somalia.
The committee, which monitors sanctions against Somalia, also said it was concerned about the continued flow of arms and ammunition supplies from outside the country. In a statement, issued on Wednesday, it said there was a lack of information concerning alleged violations of the arms embargo against Somalia.
Committee members underlined the importance of implementing a Council resolution to look into setting up a panel of experts to improve enforcement of the sanctions. They also decided to write to all member states, reminding them of their obligations to comply with the arms embargo against Somalia and to report on any suspected breaches.
Somalia's neighbours would also be contacted with a view to increasing their vigilance about the movement of goods across common borders with Somalia, the statement said.
Copyright UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com)
Xinhua News Agency, May 30
Annan Names Team to Assess Needs of Expert Panel on Somalia Sanctions.
UNITED NATIONS, May 30, 2002
Responding to a request from the U.N. Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has named a two-member team of specialists in connection with the enforcement of U.N. sanctions against Somalia.
In a letter to the 15-nation council, publicized here Thursday, Annan said that the appointed members are Ian Anthony, an expert on arms working for the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and Harjit Singh Sandhu, an expert with Interpol investigative experience.
The two experts will have 30 days to prepare an "action plan detailing the resources and expertise that the (proposed) Panel of Experts would require to be able to generate independent information violations and for improving the enforcement of the weapon and military equipment embargo," Annan said in the letter.
Under a Security Council resolution adopted earlier this month, the Panel of Experts would be charged with pursing "any sources that might reveal information related to violations, including relevant States, intergovernmental organizations and international law enforcement cooperation bodies, nongovernmental organizations, financial institutions and intermediaries, other brokering agencies, civil aviation companies and authorities, members of the Transitional National Government, local authorities, political and traditional leaders, civil society and the business community."
The Security Council first imposed the arms embargo against Somalia in 1992 with a view to establishing peace and stability in the country.
Kenya permits construction of feeding centres for starving Somali refugees - UN agency
4 June – Following the death of 10 Somali refugees, including eight children, from disease and malnutrition, local authorities in north-eastern Kenya have allowed aid workers to set up three supplementary feeding centres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today.
Construction work on the first feeding centre near the town of Mandera is set to begin Wednesday and is expected to be completed within a week, a UNHCR spokesman said in Geneva. The first centre will cater to refugees at a nearby, makeshift camp - which hosts up to 5,000 Somali refugees - along the volatile Kenya-Somalia border area. The other two centres, to be set up in Mandera itself, will meet the supplementary feeding needs of the local population and refugees living with family and friends.
Health workers have reported that the number of severely malnourished children in Mandera Hospital had risen to 147 by the end of last week, some 40 per cent of them refugees, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said. At Border Point 1, some 800 of the 2,000 children there were moderately malnourished while 400 pregnant or lactating mothers were in urgent need of supplementary feeding. Yesterday, the UN agency flew in more than a ton of medical supplies to support the local hospital.
According to Mr. Janowski, relief agencies have been unable to distribute aid to refugees at the temporary Border Point 1 encampment due to its close proximity to the border and the fear of attacks by armed militia from across the border, a mere 500 metres away.
"The Kenyan Government is yet to authorize the transfer of the refugees to safer locations inside the country, despite weeks of negotiations with UNHCR," Mr. Janowski said, adding that a relocation convoy organized last week to move the first group of 150 refugees to a refugee camp some 500 kilometres further south was called off after the government failed to give the final green light.
"UNHCR is still pressing for government authorization to either move the refugees to a more secure location in the Mandera area or to existing refugee camps in Dadaab," he said.
Africa News Service, May 28, 2002
IMB: Mogadishu Coast the 'Most Dangerous'.
The Red Sea and the coast of Somalia is now amongst the most dangerous waters in the world for shipping, according to the latest statistics from the International Maritime Bureau.
The IMB reported that nearly half (43) of all the world's 87 piracy incidents took place in waters off the coast of Indonesia, India, Nigeria and off the coast of Somalia and in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden waters from January to April of this year.
Despite an international attempt to crack down on piracy, the figures show that the number of piracy attacks in the first three months of this year are the worst ever.
In 17 of the 87 cases, pirates used firearms including the attack on the Princess Sarah by Somali pirates.
In the high risk waters of the Red Sea, and off the coast of Nigeria, Indonesia and India, seafarers are being asked to be particularly on their guard.
Indonesia has stepped up its attacks on piracy as have the governments in India and Nigeria. But the state of lawlessness present in Somalia is said to have exacerbated piracy incidents.
A number of vessels have now been boarded and their crew held for ransom off the coast of Somalia in the past two years. Somali pirates are said to be highly organised with fast speed boats often used in tandem.
The shipping industry world-wide and governments are taking the piracy menace more seriously in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States but the latest statistics appear to indicate that the crackdown is having little effect.
Trade unions such as Numast in the UK want shipowners to take more action to safeguard their vessels from piracy attacks including providing adequate numbers of seafarers to enable ships to have adequate watches at all times.
The union's general secretary Brian Orrell told The EastAfrican that shipowners "have a duty which they often don't provide, even through relatively low cost security items such as sensors, infra red detectors and alarm systems.
"Some oil companies spend more protecting petrol stations than they do tankers at sea," he said. "But there are international regulations and there should be better security at all ports. Equally all ships should be adequately manned in order to be able to have look-outs who aren't so tired they fall asleep."
But Mr Orrell said he continued to argue against the arming of merchant shipping saying "it increases the potential for violence. The answer is better patrolling such as has happened recently in the Malacca Strait."
But he acknowledged the situation in Somalia "is a problem."
"Under current international law it is difficult to get UN protection off the coast of Somalia. One answer might be for ships to travel in convoy."
by Paul Redfern
Copyright The East African.
Africa News Service, May 24, 2002
Countering Terrorism in a Failed State.
Brussels, May 22, 2002
Somalia is one of the world's chief examples of a failed state - a frequently lawless land of chronic, criminally opportunistic, conflict. There is no functioning, nationally-recognised central government. Somalia is unable to control its borders or police its financial sector and has in the past been a safe haven for al-Qaeda. Its highly fragmented internal security situation and the competing agendas of its neighbours have raised concerns that it may again become a base for international terrorism.
A new report by the International Crisis Group, Somalia: Countering Terrorism in a Failed State, a copy of which is attached, says that the instability and power vacuum created by the collapse of the state pose the greatest danger to the outside world and to Somalia itself.
ICG Africa Program Co-Director John Prendergast said: "Somalia has largely been forgotten since the last UN peacekeepers pulled out in 1995, and current peace initiatives have run out of steam. The recent escalation in fighting between competing factions backed by regional benefactors threatens the little local progress made on economic recovery and the rule of law. Renewed engagement, especially by the EU, U.S. and UN, working closely with the key regional actors, is urgently needed to bring internal peace and state reconstruction. This is the only way to realise long-term counter-terrorism objectives".
The report provides a detailed assessment of the current political dynamics, the roles of neighbouring states, especially Egypt and Ethiopia, and the risks to Kenya from Somalia's instability. It also assesses the influence of the most problematic Islamist organisation, the indigenous al-Itihaad al-Islami, which aims to establish an Islamic state. The report notes that al-Itihaad has had links with international terrorist organisations in the past, including al-Qaeda, and the possibility of continued or renewed ties should be closely monitored.
John Prendergast said: "The policy objective should, however, be wider than counter-terrorism. Diplomatic efforts should aim to defuse immediate tensions both inside Somalia and among competing regional states that threaten to plunge Somalia into wider war, and to strengthen the existing regional peace initiative".
No Western military operation - in and of itself - can make Somalia safe from terrorism. Military threats, intelligence gathering and perhaps limited military operations to seize certain individuals may deter terrorists from using Somalia as a haven in the short run. But such a strategy is unsustainable if it is not linked with a process aimed ultimately at reconciliation and the reconstitution of a functioning state.
All ICG reports are available on our website www.crisisweb.org
SOMALIA : COUNTERING TERRORISM IN A FAILED STATE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
For the first time since the last UN mission left the country in 1995, there is considerable international interest in Somalia, centred on the possibility that the country may become part of the global war against terrorism. The U.S. government suspects that al-Qaeda may have used Somalia as a staging area or safe haven in the past and remains concerned - though less than in the immediate aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks - that it could do so again because of the country's highly fragmented internal security situation.
The U.S. and its allies have already taken some steps to counter the possible use of Somalia by international terrorists, including increased surveillance, the closing down of terrorist-connected financial institutions and the threat of military action. Having high-ranking U.S. officials warn about the threat and possible military response has helped deter the use by fleeing al-Qaeda members of Somali territory as a temporary safe haven. However, while these measures may have kept terrorists from operating out of Somalia in the short-term, it is the instability and power vacuum emerging from the collapse of the Somali state that poses the greatest danger both to the outside world and to Somalis. Strong international engagement to bring peace internally and to reconstruct the failed state is required now if longer-term counter-terrorism objectives are to be achieved.
Left essentially to its own devices over the past seven years, Somalia has seen destructive civil war and lawless banditry give way to more localised, unpredictable conflicts between smaller clan-based factions and warlord militia groups. Limited local attempts at economic recovery and restoration of the rule of law have been put at risk by the recent escalation between opposing factions backed by regional benefactors. There are great local disparities. The self-declared and unrecognised Republic of Somaliland provides significant governance and security in the Northwest, though its stability is fragile and threatened by recent political developments, including the death in May 2002 of its President, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal. Parts of southern Somalia and the Northeast, including the autonomous region of Puntland, remain embroiled in destabilising armed conflict.
The so-called Transitional National Government, formed in 1999 at the Arta conference in Djibouti sponsored by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is not sufficiently representative and controls little more than part of the capital, Mogadishu. Supported by a loose coalition of Arab and African countries, including Egypt, Libya, Djibouti, Eritrea and a number of Gulf states, and in alliance with militia groups, it is engaged in a tense and occasionally violent stand-off with an opposition coalition, the Ethiopia-backed Somalia Reconciliation and Restoration Council. The polarisation between these two sets of loose alliances is increasing, and a more direct showdown is highly likely in the absence of any serious regional or international effort at conflict prevention.
Islamist organisations have become more prominent in the past decade. The most important, the indigenous al-Itihaad al-Islami, aims to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and in the Somali-inhabited region of eastern Ethiopia (the Ogaden). In the early to mid 1990s, it organised militias in attempts to gain control of several key Somali towns. It committed several acts of terrorism against Ethiopian government targets in 1995. While its goals have focused relatively narrowly on Somalia and Ethiopia, it has had links with international Islamist terrorists in the past, including al-Qaeda. The possibility of continued or renewed ties should be closely monitored.
Despite repeated calamities, there is strong Somali interest in finding a way to stable governance. Virtually all political and civil society leaders interviewed by ICG expressed a firm desire for the international community, particularly the U.S., to reengage to promote reconciliation and reconstruction of the state.
If the international community is to do this, its perspective should be wider than terrorism. Countering that phenomenon is critical, but Somalia is not Afghanistan. Local administrative structures are already in place in many areas of the country. The most worrisome political movement, al-Itihaad, does not control local populations or territory and is not structurally integrated with al-Qaeda as was the Taliban. Indeed, the reason that Somalia appears to be a magnet for some terrorists derives from characteristics as a failed state that make it attractive for hard-to-trace financial transactions and transhipment of goods and personnel. Given its civil conflicts and deep political divisions, no Western military operation - in and of itself - could make Somalia "safe from terrorism". Larger military strikes, which were seriously considered in the few months after 11 September but are not likely at this point, could prove counter-productive by alienating many Somalis and bolstering support for radical Islamist groups.
While continuing to implement discrete measures that target the lifeblood of terrorist operations - such as monitoring remittance companies and assisting in establishment of accountable financial institutions - the international community needs to begin the larger and more difficult process of addressing Somalia's chronic state failure. To achieve both short- and long-term counter-terrorism objectives, it is necessary for key states outside the region to re-engage politically. Efforts by the regional organisation IGAD to hold a peace conference for all Somali stakeholders risk collapse, with regional divisions and an uncertain agenda leaving even a date for its convening uncertain.
Diplomatic efforts should have two objectives: first, to defuse the immediate tensions (both inside Somalia and among competing regional states) that threaten to draw sections of the country into wider armed conflict; and secondly, to create the broader support structures and favourable conditions for IGAD to help lead a wider reconciliation and reconstruction process.
Subsequent ICG reporting will address in greater detail both the process and the substance of advancing that political reconciliation and reconstruction.
RECOMMENDATIONS
ON FIGHTING TERRORISM
To The U.S. And Other Members Of The International Coalition:
Continue to deny use of Somalia to al-Qaeda or other international terrorists by pursuing tight surveillance of the sea approaches and by monitoring remittance companies and transactions between Somali Islamic groups and the Gulf States.
Assist in establishing formal financial institutions and branches of international banks in Somalia as alternatives to informal money transfer arrangements.
Engage Somaliland and other local, functional Somali authorities in sharing intelligence about extremist organisations.
Calibrate any direct military operations inside the country carefully to the threat, avoiding to the extent possible in particular actions on a large-scale or in densely populated areas where such activity may stimulate a strong backlash that could benefit movements with extremist Islamist agendas.
To Somalia's Neighbours:
Work closely with the international coalition in building the capacity to monitor cross-border movements and shipments of goods, and fully share intelligence with coalition partners.
To the Transitional National Government:
Cooperate in providing information about al-Itihaad and deny its members senior positions in the administration.
ON RESTORING AN EFFECTIVE STATE
To the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD):
Name a single Special Envoy to lead the peace and reconciliation process, and continue efforts to convene a conference of Somali stakeholders, but with greater emphasis on careful preparation and flexible timetables, as well as increased international backing.
To the Secretary General of the United Nations:
Move rapidly to finalise formation of a "Friends of Somalia" contact group, while ensuring that it has a small core of committed states that can engage in peace-making efforts in Somalia, in particular by supporting the IGAD mediation efforts.
Establish with adequate staff the panel of experts proposed by the Security Council to investigate violations of the arms embargo on Somalia and to lay the groundwork for an enforcement mechanism that would - at a minimum - name and shame violators.
To the U.S. and EU:
Participate actively in the proposed new "Friends" contact group and take the lead in creating a smaller core group of the "Friends" to operationalise efforts to work with IGAD in developing a more substantial, unified mediation structure for the peace and reconciliation process.
Decide between each other who will assume primary responsibility within this core group to carry out shuttle diplomacy, through a senior envoy, in order to:
determine, with IGAD, the structure, and participation of a agenda comprehensive, IGAD-sponsored peace conference; and
consult intensively with outside sponsors of the various Somali groups (Ethiopia and others) to develop compromise positions.
Engage the Somali factions to focus them on crucial issues, in particular political decentralisation.
Implement targeted sanctions aimed at freezing personal assets, restricting travel and expelling family members living abroad if individual warlords or other factions block or undermine the unified peace and reconciliation process.
Support UN and NGO efforts to respond to humanitarian needs and support small-scale economic development.
Devise specific programs of institutional support, including capacity building for law enforcement, disarmament and reintegration and constitutional development, that would be implemented if a broader-based Somali government is established.
To Somalia's Neighbours:
Respect the United Nations arms embargo, discontinue financial and military assistance to all sides and encourage them to engage in the peace and reconciliation process.
If individual warlords or other factions block or undermine the peace and reconciliation process, work with the EU and U.S. to implement the targeted sanctions described above.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) is a private, multinational organisation, with over 80 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and contain conflict. The ICG Board is chaired by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, and its president is former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.
The Lancet, Lancet 2002; 359 (9305): 529-530, February 9, 2002
Female genital mutilation: why are we so radical?
SOURCE: Department of International Health, 715 Albany Street T4W. Boston, MA 02118, USA
AUTHOR: Julia Valderrama
Sir--The medicalisation of female genital mutilation should not be officially incorporated into any organisation's policy, but provision of medical supplies for surgical procedures may save lives and suffering. Nathan Ford (Oct 6, p 1179) n1 reports on female genital mutilation in Somalia. The practice of female genital mutilation in Somalia and in northeastern Kenya within Somali populations is common. I think that the approach taken by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in joining forces with women's groups and in training traditional birth attendants and midwives is to be applauded.
In 1994, I was in that region working with women's groups and involved in the training of traditional birth attendants. I was surprised on how easily attendants shared their methods of genital mutilation. They agreed to cut less and that the practice was harmful. Yet, they prepared for the event with extreme joy and pride, leaving aside our women doctors to women-doctors' talk.
In 1999, a newspaper reported that MSF workers had provided medical equipment to do female genital mutilation. n2 The organisation stated that this was the decision of individuals and that it did not reflect its policy. I think such individual decision is a wise intermediate position towards the eradication of female genital mutilation.
Increased knowledge of traditional birth attendants on the hazards of female genital mutilation does not mean that the practice will be reduced. Ford and colleagues declare that medicalisation does not prevent the complications of female genital mutilation and that the practice remains a human rights violation. I agree. Yet, medicalisation is a harm-reduction strategy. Provision of anaesthesia reduces the pain during the procedure, and I think international health workers should not turn a blind eye to the pain inflicted while awaiting other effective strategies.
A friendly approach will help to control female genital mutilation more quickly than a censured one. International health workers should decide, individually, at field level, and, dependent on their ability to handle their involvement with the community, whether they want to diminish the suffering of girls when going through this time-honoured atrocity. In the meantime, we should continue our efforts to eradicate this practice.
REFERENCES:
n1 Ford N. Tackling female genital curting in Somalia. Lancet 2001; 358: 1179.
n2 Veash N. Genital mutilation: aid group caught in controversy. www.unfoundation.org/unwire/archives/UN WIRE990824.asp#7 (accessed Oct 26, 2001)
International Enforcement Law Reporter, July 2002, Vol. 18, No. 7
Canada Denies U.S. Extradition Request for Somalis Allegedly Linked to Terrorism Financing
BYLINE: Bruce Zagaris
On June 3, 2002 Canadian officials announced that Canada would deny a U.S. extradition request for Somali national Liban Hussein, 31 years old, whom the U.S. accuses of terrorism financing and associated offenses. n1 n1 Reuters, Canada Will Not Extradite Al Qaeda Funding Suspect, N.Y. TIMES, June 3, 2002, website.
In a statement Canada's Justice Ministry said it was discontinuing proceedings, even though both the U.S. and Canada named the suspect on a list of persons with suspected links to Al Qaeda. Canada will remove Mr. Hussein from its own list and request the United Nations Security Council to do the same. However, Buck Shinkman, a spokesman with the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, contradicted Canada's statement that the U.S. did not object to the decision.
Canadian authorities arrested Mr. Hussein in November 2001 on a U.S. warrant. Canada also put Mr. Hussein on the list based on information received from the U.S. A Canadian judge released Hussein on bail after finding no evidence he was "involved in any terrorist act or activity." Still, in February 2002 canadian authorities agreed to start extradition proceedings, fixing a date of June 17 for the proceedings.
The U.S. has indicted Hussein and his brother Mohamed in Massachusetts of illegally operating the Barakaat North America money transfer service and has frozen the assets of al Barakaat. n2 In May 2002 a U.S. District court convicted Mohamed on two counts of illegally transferring money abroad. The indictment did not include terrorism financing charges although the two are in the list of persons suspected of helping fund Al Qaeda.
n2 Id.
Hussein's counsel contended that the extradition violated Hussein's constitutional rights by including him and his company on U.S. and Canadian lists of people and organizations possibly linked to terrorist financing, which resulted in the freezing of his assets and adverse publicity, notwithstanding the absence of evidence that he engaged in funding terrorism. n3
n3 Associated Press, U.S. Disagrees with Canadian Decision, N.Y. TIMES, website. For a discussion of issues in extradition proceedings in Canada see Elian F. Krivel, Q.C., Thomas Beveridge and John W. Hayward, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CANADIAN EXTRADITION (Carsell 2002).
In November, the Bush Administration added al Barakaat to the list of persons suspected of financing al Qaeda, alleging the business wired about $ 2.8 million to an account in the United Arab Emirates between September 200 and November 2001, even though the Husseins knew they violated the law because they did not have a Massachusetts license to transmit money. In addition, U.S. investigators allege that Al Qaeda skimmed money from the tens of millions of dollars that annually are transmitted through al Barakaat, which has its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates. The Hussein brothers have said al Barakaat only helped Somali expatriates to send money home to relatives. n4
n4 Associated Press, id.
If Canada requests the removal of Mr. Liban Hussein's name from the U.N. list and the U.S. objects, the U.S. has the ability to block the removal effort. However, in view of questioning of the listing method and whether the procedure for listing is fair insofar as it does not require the submission of evidence equivalent of probable cause or a similar standard used by courts, the blocking by the U.S. may risk the overall effort of sustaining support by the international community for the U.N. and common blocking lists. In addition, in view of questioning by other allies on the fairness of other aspects of the counterterrorism effort, the U.S. position on the Liban Hussein case may assume more importance.
Boston College Third World Law Journal, Winter, 2002
22 B.C. Third World L.J. 201
BOOK REVIEW: Legal and Non-Legal Responses to Concerns for Women's Rights in Countries Practicing Female Circumcision: Debating Women's Equality. By Ute Gerhard
New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 2001. Pp. 180.
Erin L. Han*
* Staff Writer, BOSTON COLLEGE THIRD WORLD LAW JOURNAL (2001-2002).
SUMMARY:
In her book, Debating Women's Equality, Ute Gerhard seeks to reconcile feminist theories that urge women's equality with those that recognize and celebrate the differences of women, as a gender. This Book Review will explore the limitations of Gerhard's approach through a case study of the international women's movement against the practice of female circumcision in parts of Africa. Part III of this Book Review will discuss the limits of Gerhard's emphasis on legal means for gaining equality, as it is applied to the international and local movements to end the practice of female circumcision in Africa. The practice of female circumcision, deeply rooted in cultural tradition, introduces complexities that are distinct from traditional targets of feminist activism, such as domestic violence or rape, and hence eschews categorization by many of Gerhard's feminist theories. Gerhard is certainly right to applaud the activist work of hard-working non-Western feminists, such as African women who are seeking to end the practice of female circumcision in their countries. In this way, Gerhard's focus on equality, which she regards as "indispensable as a standard of justice," will continue to shape the empowerment of women in society, as the practice of female circumcision is brought to an end.
Abstract: Ute Gerhard's book, Debating Women's Equality, emphasizes the continuing importance of equality to the women's rights movement. Gerhard tackles the feminist equality-versus-difference debate and concludes that both concepts are vital to women's efforts to achieve status that is both equal with men but uniquely female at the same time. She directs her theories to the feminist movements in Europe, and concludes that women must primarily use law to claim their rights. This Book Review tests the applicability of Gerhard's Western feminist theories to the anti female circumcision movements in Africa, and particularly focuses on the limitations of law as a method for claiming women's rights in circumcising communities. Through this analysis, this Review illustrates the limited applicability of Western feminism to the experiences and goals of African feminists and suggests alternate, nonlegal approaches to eradicate the practice of female circumcision in Africa.
TEXT:
[*201] INTRODUCTION
In her book, Debating Women's Equality, Ute Gerhard seeks to reconcile feminist theories that urge women's equality with those that recognize and celebrate the differences of women, as a gender. n1 Gerhard argues that equality and difference can and should go hand in hand, and that an understanding of differences between the genders is the best way to ensure equality of experiences for women and men alike. n2 The realization of equality, as a standard for measuring justice, is a primary focus of this book. n3 Moreover, Gerhard urges [*202] women to gain this equality through legal means, reshaping law and concepts of law and "human rights" in the process. n4
In this European feminist book, Gerhard criticizes the American feminist equality discussion as inapplicable to the same discussion in European countries. n5 However, she fails to analyze the application of her own European view of equality, and her reliance on legal measures for its realization, to non-Western feminist and cultural frameworks. This Book Review critically analyzes the limitations of Gerhard's legal, "rights-based" approach to women's equality in non-Western countries where women themselves are largely responsible for upholding and perpetuating certain types of inequality and abuse. n6
This Book Review will explore the limitations of Gerhard's approach through a case study of the international women's movement against the practice of female circumcision n7 in parts of Africa. Part I [*203] will provide the background necessary for a discussion and analysis of female circumcision. Part II will address the theoretical complexities that female circumcision poses for (European) Western feminists, such as Gerhard, particularly the applicability of the public/private distinction. n8 It will also question the usefulness of the "equality-versus-difference" debate that Gerhard articulates, n9 in the context of female circumcision, where women use their gender difference to justify and uphold unequal treatment. n10 Part III of this Book Review will discuss the limits of Gerhard's emphasis on legal means for gaining equality, as it is applied to the international and local movements to end the practice of female circumcision in Africa. n11 Law has only limited potential to eradicate a culturally embedded practice such as female circumcision. Efforts to criminalize these practices, especially where they bear the aura of Western intervention, have in most cases been ineffective and even counterproductive, causing the practice to become even more entrenched. Women's efforts to gain equality in communities that practice female genital cutting must embrace culturally sensitive and innovative non-legal strategies, both as a precursor to and alongside efforts to eradicate female circumcision by law.
I. FEMALE CIRCUMCISION: DEFINITIONS, RATIONALES, AND DEBATE
Female circumcision is a prevalent practice among the populations of many African and Middle Eastern countries. n12 The practice varies widely among different communities and people groups, ranging from "sunna," the most mild form, which involves the cutting of the prepuce or hood of the clitoris, to infibulation, which involves the cutting of the clitoris, labia minora, and a large portion of the labia majora before sewing together the two sides of the vulva, leaving only [*204] a small hole the size of a reed for the passage of urine and menstrual blood. n13
The underlying rationales for this practice also vary greatly among practicing communities. n14 In Kenya and parts of Uganda, female circumcision occurs when a girl becomes a teenager, as a rite of passage into womanhood before she is married. n15 In Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, Eritrea, and Somalia, female circumcision occurs at a much younger age. n16 The goal in many of these communities is to protect a girl's virginity, n17 which is vital to ensuring her prospects for marriage. n18 In communities where polygamy is prominent, female circumcision is also intended as a tool to curb women's sex drive, thus easing the pressure on the husband to satisfy all of his wives sexually. n19 Cultures have also practiced female genital cutting as part of an aesthetic preference for "smoothness" where female genitalia should be; n20 perceived [*205] or actual preference by men for "tightness" during intercourse; n21 and medical misconceptions concerning a woman's genitalia. n22 Contrary to popular perception, female circumcision is not solely an "Islamic rite;" Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Copts, Animists, and atheists all practice various forms of female genital cutting. n23 While female circumcision is most frequently carried out by Muslims, there is actually no requirement in the Islamic religion for this practice. n24
Numerous international treaties and covenants either implicitly or explicitly hold that female circumcision practices constitute an abuse of women and a violation of their human rights. n25 While it has been successfully argued that many female circumcision practices are prohibited as "torture" under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) n26 and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, n27 [*206] international covenants dealing specifically with women's rights have been even more explicit in condemning female circumcision as a human rights abuse. n28 Article 2 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women specifically identifies "female genital mutilation" as a practice that must be condemned and eradicated by all states. n29 In addition, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) guarantees to women several health rights including: the right to have one's health and reproduction protected and the right to adequate health care. n30 The health consequences to circumcised females (particularly those subjected to more severe forms of cutting) include the following: intense pain, resulting from lack of anesthesia; shock; hemorrhage; discomfort, infection and other complications arising from retention of urine and menstrual discharge; fever; tetanus and genital infections from unsterilized instruments; the formation of obstructive genital scar tissue; sterility; cysts; painful intercourse; n31 loss of at least some sexual pleasure during intercourse; and obstructed labor, which may result in a high number of still births or birth defects. n32 Clearly a practice with such horrific health consequences and little to nothing in the way of health benefits constitutes a violation of women's right to adequate health and reproductive care, as guaranteed under CEDAW. n33 Furthermore, both CEDAW and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women specifically state that custom and tradition may not be used to excuse practices that are forbidden by these covenants. n34
[*207] African feminists generally do not deny either the seriousness of circumcision nor the need to work for eradication of the practice. n35 Rather, they object to the demeaning and imperialistic way in which some camps of Western activists have approached this issue. n36 This Book Review attempts to blend the views of Western and African feminists. n37 While this Review argues for the abolition of female circumcision, eradication efforts must be conducted in a way that is respectful of African women and their diverse cultures. n38 Micere Githae Mugo perhaps best sums up this approach as follows: "my rejection of circumcision is not a moral judgment of those who practice it." n39
II. THEORETICAL COMPLEXITIES SURROUNDING FEMALE CIRCUMCISION AND WESTERN FEMINISM
A. The Public/Private Spheres
The practice of female circumcision, deeply rooted in cultural tradition, introduces complexities that are distinct from traditional targets of feminist activism, such as domestic violence or rape, and hence eschews categorization by many of Gerhard's feminist theories. n40 In her final chapter on women's human rights, for example, Gerhard addresses the familiar feminist recognition of the "public/private sphere divide." n41 According to this theory, abuses against women take place in the "nonpublic, intimate, private sphere of the family, where they are tolerated and go unpunished, and thus are not subject to public law or protection by the state." n42
Female circumcision, however, is difficult to articulate as either truly public or private, in the sense implied by Gerhard. n43 Far from being a secret, private matter, traditions surrounding genital cutting, such as protection of virginity, are seen as a community responsibility. n44 Indeed, a large, community-wide celebration often accompanies [*208] a young woman's circumcision. n45 The stamp of "public" sanction on female circumcision practices has recently become even more pronounced, as some health professionals, charged by governments and activists to end the practice, have instead encouraged families to have their daughters circumcised in the more sanitary setting of public health clinics. n46
Furthermore, the "public/private" dilemma that is mentioned by Gerhard typically focuses on gender-based abuses that women experience in the private sphere at the hands of men. n47 Thus, another important nuance to female circumcision is that the practice is primarily performed by women, on other women. n48 Male preferences for wives who have been cut and/or infibulated propel the practice of female circumcision, in that women strive to meet these preferences to ensure prospects for marriage. n49 However, it is women who perform the actual procedures n50 and women who riot the loudest against abolition. n51 In countries such as Kenya, where a girl is, generally, circumcised as a teenager, she will often voluntarily request for the procedure to be performed rather than having to be outwardly coerced to follow tradition. n52 Thus, the public/private dilemma, which has been central n53 to feminist understanding of women's experiences with abuse, may have limited applicability to cultural traditions such as female circumcision.
[*209] B. The Role of Equality
Gerhard's understanding of the relationship between difference and equality is another example of Western feminist doctrine that does not easily translate to non-Western cultures that practice female circumcision. n54 For Gerhard, difference is not the antithesis of equality; rather, an understanding of difference is essential both to ensuring and understanding a concept of equal treatment of the genders. n55 In Gerhard's own words, "The principle of equality assumes that men and women are different and that they will not become identical as a result of equal treatment, but will be able to preserve their difference." n56
Gerhard's discussion of an ideal equality, which is crafted and instructed through difference, is of little current significance to the female circumcision issue, where most women in these communities must first be convinced that equality of treatment is something that they deserve or even want. n57 Far from instructing a greater understanding of equality, difference is still used in these communities to justify unequal, and in this case, abusive treatment. n58 In a nod to cultural relativism, Gerhard states, "A decisive step for women from non-Western cultures in demanding human rights was . . . that they themselves began to define the substance and meaning of their cultures, using their own experience and legal systems to confront patriarchal practices and interpretations." n59 Gerhard is certainly right to applaud the activist work of hard-working non-Western feminists, n60 such as African women who are seeking to end the practice of female circumcision [*210] in their countries. However, it is important to recognize that for the general population, change and equality are a long way off and, for many women, not even desired. n61 "Equality," however it relates to difference in Western feminist thought, is an ideal, even for African women activists, that must be taken alongside tradition in countries that practice female circumcision. n62
The failure of anti-circumcision efforts in Uganda illustrates that, for many African women, the desire for equal treatment may be some time in coming. n63 In Uganda, activists sought to eradicate female circumcision through the use of social marketing messages to community leaders in areas that practiced female circumcision. n64 In many areas, the effort initially worked. n65 Community leaders agreed that the costs of female circumcision outweighed the cultural benefits and publicly denounced the practice. n66 However, within a year, female circumcisions returned as a part of community life, largely at the request of teenage girls, who could not understand why they should not participate in this historically important rite. n67 The observations of Ellen Gruenbaum, made during her extensive research trips to Sudan, illustrate that notions of equality between men and women are almost inconceivable in areas of this country. n68 Gruenbaum noted that female circumcision, however painful, is rarely questioned by practicing women, who treat the practice as an inevitable component of womanhood, similar to the pains of childbirth. n69
In other communities, the particular form of circumcision practiced by a group might represent a key distinction between that group and outside communities, with the more intrusive forms of circumcision correlating to elevated group status. n70 In this way, gender differences not only propel unequal treatment of women within their communities, but this treatment might become intrinsic to a community's [*211] very identity. n71 In such a community, understanding and appreciating the differences between men and women, as Gerhard suggests, are unlikely to change the position of women, since pointing out these differences will more deeply entrench the reasons for their subordination. n72
Women must first be seen as equal to men by virtue of their shared humanity. n73 Only then can African women claim their rights alongside men in a way that recognizes and celebrates their uniqueness as women. n74 With these theoretical nuances in mind, female circumcision provides a particularly interesting case study on which to test Gerhard's reliance on law outside of the context of the West.
III. ERADICATING FEMALE CIRCUMCISION BY LAW: LIMITATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES
A. Limits of Law and Criminalization
Gerhard stresses law as a vehicle to change, n75 yet law has thus far had limited success in efforts to eradicate female circumcision, due to strong motivation to break such laws coupled with their general lack of enforceability. n76 It is important to remember that in a community where genital cutting of some variety is a prerequisite to marriage, and where marriage is the key to survival, the decision to defy the law might seem like a rational choice to well-meaning parents and midwives. n77 This choice becomes even more rational in light of the difficulty most governments have had in enforcing anti-circumcision laws. n78 Efforts to criminalize have proven to be largely unenforceable [*212] when they run against a cherished social more n79 and when the majority of the population would qualify as "criminal" under the new law. n80
Not only have efforts to criminalize female circumcision proven ineffective, but in many cases they have exacerbated the plight of African women. n81 Initial efforts in several countries to curb female circumcision through law resulted in enormous backlash from the local populations n82 and health care professionals. n83 Instead of ending the practice, families reacted by circumcising their daughters at even younger ages, often "at night by lamplight." n84 Under these circumstances, a girl who is already at enormous risk for infection due to the unsanitary conditions in which many circumcisions are performed, may be unable to seek professional medical help after the cutting has taken place, for fear that her parents will be criminally prosecuted for allowing the procedure. n85
While law certainly does have some value as an instrument of social change, n86 history has made it clear that change must come not by [*213] law alone. n87 The most effective approach to eradicating female circumcision is one that combines legislation and work by grassroots organizations to change the tide of public opinion on the subject and to provide women with opportunities for survival outside of marriage. n88 Change in "norms" and attitudes will lay the groundwork for legislation that will effectively outlaw, or at least limit, practices that are harmful to women. n89
B. General Guidelines for Successful Legal and Non-Legal Initiatives
There are three general guidelines that ought to be applied to any plan for eradication of female circumcision. n90 First, whenever possible, efforts towards change must be implemented at the grassroots/community level. n91 Most early failures at outlawing female circumcision were initiated by European colonial governments. n92 These laws failed largely because they lacked support by the local peoples who practiced genital cutting. n93 Outside judgment and interference have the tendency to appear patriarchal, n94 and so African feminists generally prefer to work on the problem themselves, n95 free from outside interference. n96 Thus, international concern about genital cutting is best channeled towards supporting African women in their grassroots efforts at legal and non-legal change within their practicing [*214] countries. n97 This approach avoids imperialism, while encouraging change to arise from the work of women who best understand the problem and who have a personally vested interest in seeing change occur. n98
Second, rather than limiting their message to circumcision practices, activists should incorporate other issues that are already recognized and important to African women as part of integrated outreach programs. n99 In many African countries, experiences of hunger and war, which are shared by women and men, often rank higher on women's lists of human rights concerns than do "women's issues" such as female circumcision. n100 African feminists and grassroots organizations argue that anti-circumcision efforts must take this reality into consideration. n101 Rather than pouring all of their resources into the eradication of a practice which many participants support, governmental and non-governmental organizations must gain legitimacy by giving equal attention to other important issues, such as needs for health care facilities and training, access to public education for girls, and access to clean water, which also affect the health of African women. n102
Finally, in considering any particular policy, it is important to remember that female circumcision is a widely varied practice, involving not only different techniques and types of cutting, but motivated by different cultural stimuli. n103 While it is outside the scope of this Book Review to discuss recommendations and policies for each country where female circumcision is practiced, activists with a focus on one of [*215] these communities must engage in further research so as to formulate a plan that will be both meaningful and effective in that area of the world. n104
C. Non-Legal Eradication Efforts
1. Education
The modern movement against female circumcision has come to recognize the centrality of education in policies geared towards eradicating any and all forms of the practice. n105 History has shown that legal efforts to change local traditions are ineffective, if not counter-productive, where they are not preceded by attempts to educate local populations as to why these traditions are harmful. n106 Whether females are circumcised in an effort to ensure their chances for marriage, n107 or as a symbol of one's passage into adulthood, n108 social standing and/or survival serve as powerful reasons to disobey anti-circumcision laws. n109 An effective educational campaign against genital cutting will lay the groundwork for later efforts to criminalize the practice. n110
Efforts to educate against female circumcision have necessarily gone through an evolutionary process. n111 In the 1980s, activists in the movement against female genital cutting believed that education would initially be best received as a health issue, as opposed to a human rights or feminist issue. n112 In many communities, female circumcision is justified through erroneous health beliefs. n113 Activists believed [*216] that health-based education aimed at disproving these beliefs would be more useful to discourage the cutting than would be an education program that offended cultural beliefs by focusing on critiquing the traditional role of women in the targeted society. n114
In more recent years, however, activists have begun to address the situation of women with increased boldness, not only from the perspective of health but also with a broader focus on the empowerment of women within circumcising societies. n115 The reason for this shift is that activists are concerned that pure health instruction may leave communities with the conclusion that circumcision is an acceptable practice, so long as it is performed in as sanitary a way as possible, such as in health centers. n116 Because activists are concerned not only with the physical harm of female circumcision, but with its intended purpose to curb the choices and sexual practices of women, current efforts have taken on a more ambitious agenda by seeking to empower women to claim an equal status with men in society. n117
2. Socio-economic Development
In addition to education, economic and social development initiatives in African communities serve as important non-legal methods to elevate the status of women. n118 As discussed above, laws prohibiting genital cutting have been ineffective where an uncut woman is unmarriageable and where marriage represents her only hope for survival in her community. n119 The key is to foster general education and career opportunities for women, so as to decrease their dependence on men for their livelihood. n120 Once women perceive viable options for security and survival besides marriage, the health risks of genital cutting will pose a more compelling reason to cease the practice. n121
[*217] However, economic development programs are only as successful in ending female circumcision as they are in elevating the status of women vis a vis men. n122 Where economic development betters the situation of men, without also empowering women, circumcision of women might become even more entrenched in the community. n123 This is seen in the recent development of irrigation projects in Sudan, where the projects were structured with male heads of households commanding family labor. n124 This kind of situation might result in a further entrenchment of female circumcision if the increase of male wealth and power leads to an increase in the practice of polygamy, which is often seen as a symbol of male status. n125 When adopted, polygamy has the potential to encourage stricter circumcision practices as a result of competition among wives to please their husband sexually. n126 If the position of women is to be bettered and circumcision is to be discouraged, economic development programs must specifically target and empower women by introducing or supporting schools, clinics, and employment opportunities for women and girls. n127
3. Innovative Methods
A recent tactic that has enjoyed considerable success in ending female genital cutting is the introduction of alternate rites ceremonies. n128 This approach, the product of a collaboration between a Kenyan grassroots organization and an international non-profit organization, n129 has been effective in communities where circumcision of women is practiced as a "coming of age" ritual. n130 The key to the success [*218] of this approach is to design a ceremony that is a blend of traditional symbolism and values with an empowering program of modern reproductive and developmental education. n131 A typical celebration may incorporate traditional dances, singing, and feasting, but omits the customary genital cutting. n132 Alternate rites programs have met with a positive response from local communities in Kenya, n133 where alternate rite ceremonies are called "Circumcision through Words." n134 These ceremonies include a week of seclusion during which the girls learn about cultural traditions concerning their roles in the community as women and mothers. n135 In addition, the training incorporates instruction in modern health, hygiene, reproductive issues, communication skills, self-esteem, and dealing with peer pressure. n136
The success of "alternate rites ceremonies" in certain communities demonstrates the need for continued innovation in developing non-legal techniques to address the practice of female circumcision. n137 Future innovation might harness popular culture through contemporary theater, music, and films. n138 These popular forms of communication and expression can be used to eliminate one of the primary motivating forces behind female circumcision by changing aesthetic preferences and ideals that favor a circumcised woman. n139 Changes in cultural ideals are a necessary precursor to legislation seeking to regulate or eradicate female circumcision at a local level. n140
[*219] 4. A Return to Law
Despite the discouraging start for anti-circumcision legislation in many practicing countries, there are two primary areas in which a renewal of such legislation, introduced alongside non-legal strategies, currently show the most promise: the criminalization of female circumcision in clinics and hospitals n141 and the utilization of international human rights covenants and discourse to address female circumcision. n142
a. Criminalization of Female Circumcision in Hospitals and Clinics
While health education remains a crucial component of efforts to educate against female genital cutting, these efforts should not proceed without laws in place that criminalize relocation of the practice to clinics and hospitals. n143 Experience has shown that health-based activism works to an extent. n144 That is, local citizens recognize the health problems associated with the performance of these procedures in unsanitary conditions by unprofessional practitioners using rudimentary instruments. n145 Rather than abandon circumcision, however, many families have instead turned to health professionals at medical centers to have their daughters circumcised. n146 Health workers are tempted to perform these procedures out of fear that a girl will be circumcised anyway, with or without their professional assistance. n147
[*220] While medicalization is an attractive solution for saving lives in the short term, n148 in the long term, medicalization could further institutionalize female circumcision in practicing societies. n149 The danger is that medicalizing female circumcision not only represents a form of official sanction, but also bestows an aura of safety by removing many of the sanitation-based health concerns. n150 Nonetheless, the fact remains that no matter how hygienic the hospital setting is, there may still be severe consequences for a woman's physical health and sexuality as a result of the removal of healthy tissue and/or infibulation. n151
A more compelling "medicalization" argument is a proposal to allow health professionals just to nick a patient's prepuce, a procedure which would let out a single drop of blood and respect the symbolism of the practice without incurring negative health consequences. n152 While appealing on cultural grounds, this proposal has been largely rejected by the World Health Organization (WHO) and by a number of African commentators and organizations. n153 There are two problems with allowing the institutionalization of a seemingly harmless practice of this nature. First, even Professor Obiora, an outspoken African advocate of medicalization, admits that institutionalization in health centers of this symbolic version of circumcision presents a "slippery slope" between symbolic procedures and those which result in damage through the removal of tissue. n154 Secondly, given the scarcity of clinics and health services, there is little likelihood that families would actually go to the trouble of bringing their daughters to professionals for such a simple procedure. n155 Particularly in communities where groups of girls go through circumcision at the same time, there is a very real fear of transferring HIV through even such a [*221] seemingly harmless procedure as a nick or prick to the prepuce. n156 Given the dangers inherent in medicalization of even mild circumcision procedures, legislation against female circumcision in the clinical setting by health professionals is important to promoting better health and education in circumcising communities. n157
b. International Human Rights Covenants
International human rights covenants and discourse suggest another possible avenue for legal involvement in anti-circumcision activism. n158 Through international covenants, states join together to express their support for certain principles and expectations of how women ought to be treated in the global community. n159 These expectations are recorded in written covenants, which may be binding on signatories and may exert moral pressure on non-signatories. n160
The primary limitation to this approach is that international human rights agreements are dubiously effective. n161 Nonetheless, there are possibilities for a measure of success through the use of international legal agreements. n162 The very process of creating international consensus on an issue such as female circumcision creates a forum for discussion and brainstorming among policy makers around the world who are interested in new ways to enact change. n163 Once a consensus is reached, African policy makers and activists can return to their respective countries with a more impressive moral mandate to address circumcision practices within their respective populations. n164 Finally, and most importantly, international conventions provide powerful [*222] rhetoric to fuel grassroots efforts in practicing countries. n165 Thus, while direct outside influence on national legislation has not been effective, less direct involvement by the international community for the eradication of female circumcision has the potential to support African activists in creating a mandate for eradication from their own people. n166
CONCLUSION
To Western and African feminists alike, the goal of eradicating female circumcision around the world represents more than a desire to end physical pain. n167 It is a movement to empower women in society to claim their equality with men as fellow human beings and eventually to further realize equality by embracing their uniqueness as women. n168 In this way, Gerhard's focus on equality, which she regards as "indispensable as a standard of justice," will continue to shape the empowerment of women in society, as the practice of female circumcision is brought to an end. n169
Law is one way to urge greater equality, in that normative values ideally form the background for well-intended legislation. n170 However, anti-circumcision activists must be careful not to use law in a way that re-victimizes African women. n171 In their outrage at this practice, Western feminists have turned too quickly to the institution of the law to try to end the cutting of their "sisters" in Africa. n172 In so doing, since women are both the recipients and practitioners of circumcision, the victims become repainted and villainized as the abusers. n173
[*223] Clearly the answer is not to throw all African midwives and mothers in jail through Western-imposed criminal laws. The answer is to educate women not only about why circumcising is a "bad health practice" but as to why, despite differences between the genders, women are entitled to autonomy over their bodies and over their personal decisions, both in society and in the home. n174
Western feminists are only starting to realize what African women knew all along--that criminalizing circumcision or even educating against it will offer little protection until women have somewhere besides men to turn for security and sustenance. n175 While Gerhard's insistence on legal remedies may be shortsighted in the context of communities that practice female circumcision, she accurately identifies the source of women's plight when she states that, "subordination, legal incapacity, obedience, hierarchical division of labor, and the authoritarian nature of sexual relations" are the "substance and core" of women's dilemma. n176 By targeting aspects of society, aside from circumcision practices, where women have been disem-powered, activists get to the core of Gerhard's equality-based concerns and move one step closer to ending the circumcision of women. n177 In the words of Sudanese Women's Union leader Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim:
Circumcision is not the cause of a problem, but is the result of a situation . The cure is not to spend lots of money to convince women to stop . . . . The solution is to educate women, raise their consciousness . . . so they will not feel in need to circumcise to keep respect. n178
FOOTNOTES:
n1 See UTE GERHARD, DEBATING WOMEN'S EQUALITY 1 (2001).
n2 See id. at 3, 9-10, 91.
n3 See id. at 1.
n4 See id. at 4, 179.
n5 See id. at 162. American feminists, such as Catherine A. MacKinnon, have argued for the use of "sameness" rather than "equality," according to the Aristotelian line of reasoning in which only likes are to be treated alike. See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 162. However, Gerhard argues that this reasoning simply does not apply to European feminist theory, since most European constitutions have provisions establishing the legal equality of men and women, which therefore exclude consideration of gender difference. Id.
n6 See ANIKA RAHMAN & NAHID TOUBIA, FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: A GUIDE TO LAWS AND POLICIES WORLDWIDE 48 (2000). Although this Book Review examines the limitations of the Western perspective, particularly as applied to developing nations, the author acknowledges that she herself is largely a product of Western feminism. While this author's approach attempts to embrace cultural sensitivity with regard to female circumcision, as a feminist issue and with regard to proposals for eradication, this Book Review is written from the perspective that eradication should be the ultimate goal. See Erika Sussman, Contending with Culture: an Analysis of the Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996, 31 CORNELL INT'L L.J. 193, 213 (1998). This being the case, and in light of the physical and psychological trauma experienced by many circumcised women, without any medical benefit, this Book Review operates under the assumption that female circumcision, particularly in its most invasive forms, constitutes unequal and abusive treatment of women in the cultures in which it is practiced. See Micere Githae Mugo, Elitist Anti-Circumcision Discourse as Mutilating and Anti-Feminist, 47 CASE W. RES. L. REV. 461, 461 (Winter 1997).
n7 See ELLEN GRUENBAUM, THE FEMALE CIRCUMCISION CONTROVERSY 3-4 (2001); Amanda Cardenas, Female Circumcision: The Road to Change, 26 SYRACUSE J. INT'L L. & COM. 291, 293 (1999). Use of the term "female circumcision" has become more widespread in the past couple years as a more culturally sensitive variation of the term "female genital mutilation," which became widely used by women's human rights activists during the 1990s. See GRUENBAUM, supra, at 3. "Female genital mutilation" may be an accurate choice of words in that it conveys the damage that the practice wields on healthy tissue on the female body. Id. However, the term, which carries connotations of bad or malicious intent, can be extremely offensive to women who participate in the practice, since their intentions are to elevate a girl's prospects for a successful life in her community. See id. Even though this Book Review utilizes the more culturally sensitive term, "female circumcision," this term is also a misnomer to the extent that it suggests a correlation to "male circumcision," where the removal of the foreskin in the male is generally considered non-mutilating. See id. at 3-4. While this Book Review will primarily utilize the term "female circumcision," because it is a more commonly understood term with legal and political theorists, the author will also employ the term "female genital cutting," which has gained some use in recent scholarship as a choice that is less offensive than "female genital mutilation" but less of a misnomer than "female circumcision." See RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 4; Elizabeth Heger Boyle & Sharon E. Preves, National Politics as International Process: The Case of Anti-female-genital-cutting Laws, 34 LAW & SOC'Y REV. 703, 703 (2000).
n8 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177.
n9 See id. at 91.
n10 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 38-39.
n11 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 4.
n12 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, REPORT NO. 47, FEMALE CIRCUMCISION, EXCISION AND INFIBULATION: THE FACTS AND PROPOSALS FOR CHANGE 6 (Scilla McLean ed., 1980).
n13 See id. at 3.
n14 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 49.
n15 See id. at 69-71; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 5, 78; Cynthia Fernandez-Romano, The Banning of Female Circumcision: Cultural Imperialism or a Triumph for Women's Rights?, 13 TEMP. INT'L & COMP. L.J. 137, 140 (1999).
n16 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 70.
n17 See id. at 79. It is important to note that the practice does not necessarily protect virginity, since infibulation can be re-done after intercourse. See id. at 78-79; Alexi Nicole Wood, A Cultural Rite of Passage or a Form of Torture: Female Genital Mutilation from an International Law Perspective, 12 HASTINGS WOMEN'S L.J. 347, 357 (2001). Nonetheless, in these communities, virginity is a social and physical construct, commonly viewed as "guaranteed" by infibulation, regardless of whether the woman has, in fact, engaged in intercourse. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 79. Virginity may be more practically ensured through female circumcision by the decrease in a girl's sexual sensitivity. See id. However, even though sex may be painful and hence unappealing for infibulated women and girls, sexual desire is a psychological attribute, and therefore might still be present. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7.
n18 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; see GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 87; Wood, supra note 17, at 357-58. The importance of marriage to a woman's survival and security in many of these countries cannot be over-emphasized. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 87. In a culture where women are poorly educated, if at all, marriage provides a woman's surest hope for economic security, both during her husband's life and in her old age, through the care of the children she bears. See id. at 79.
n19 See RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 5-6.
n20 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 78; Fernandez-Romano, supra note 15, at 143. It is important to remember that women in countries where infibulation is prominent are used to seeing smoothness and enclosure instead of exposed genitalia. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 73. Thus, an infibulated woman is seen as beautiful by her cultural standards. See id. Indeed, an uninfibulated woman would seem masculine and ugly. Id. As shocking as practices surrounding female circumcision might seem to outsiders, one should remember that several cultures have beauty standards that involve medically changing the natural body. See id. at 72. In the Western world, skin removal, breast implants, nose alterations, face lifts, and liposuction are painful and risky medical procedures--even mutilations--aimed at achieving a more aesthetically pleasing body. See id. at 72; Cardenas, supra note 7, med at achieving a more aesthetically pleasing body. See id. at 72; Cardenas, supra note 7, at 311.
n21 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 153.
n22 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; see Wood, supra note 17, at 358-59. In some communities, female circumcision is performed to preserve distinction between the sexes. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7. In many of these communities, genital cutting is urged by the belief that the clitoris will continue to grow and dangle like male genitalia if it is not cut. Id. Other medical misconceptions include beliefs that the clitoris can actually harm the male sex organs or a baby during delivery. Id.
n23 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; Wood, supra note 17, at 356-57. The source of female circumcision is found in cultural traditions. See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7. However, although there is no religious requirement to do so, some religious authorities have adopted and encouraged this aspect of traditional culture. See id.
n24 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; see also Wood, supra note 17, at 356-57, 370. According to Dr. Taha Ba'asher, regional director for the World Health Organization, the misconception probably arose from a generalization of male circumcision, which has been framed more explicitly as a religious mandate in Christianity and Islam from the command by God to the Prophet Abraham, as applicable to the female. MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; see GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 63.
n25 Sussman, supra note 6, at 199-202.
n26 Id. at 200. Article 5 of the UDHR states that, "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Id.
n27 Id. This convention also forbids torture, which it defines as:
Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as . . . intimidating or coercing him or a third person for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
Id.
n28 Sussman, supra note 6, at 201-02.
n29 Id. at 201.
n30 Id.
n31 Wood, supra note 17, at 364. In the case of infibulation (which is the most serious form of circumcision, performed on an estimated 15% of all circumcised women), the wedding night can be particularly painful. Id. In order for the woman to be penetrated during intercourse, an almost fully closed vaginal opening will need to be re-opened. Id. It can take weeks before the husband is able to fully penetrate his wife, although there are reports of husbands using daggers or razor blades to open the closure more quickly. Id. In Somalia, tradition further dictates that a newly married couple should have prolonged and repeated intercourse over a period of eight days, with the woman trying to lie in bed perfectly still during this entire time to keep the wound from re-closing. Id.
n32 Fernandez-Romano, supra note 15, at 139-40; Note, What's Culture Got to Do with It? Excising the Harmful Tradition of Female Circumcision, 106 HARV. L. REV. 1944, 1948 (1993); Wood, supra note 17, at 362-63.
n33 See Sussman, supra note 6, at 202.
n34 Id. at 201.
n35 Hope Lewis, Between Irua and "Female Genital Mutilation": Feminist Human Rights Discourse and the Cultural Divide, 8 HARV. HUM. RTS. J. 1, 28 (1995).
n36 Id. at 28-29.
n37 Sussman, supra note 6, at 208.
n38 Lewis, supra note 35, at 28-29.
n39 Mugo, supra note 6, at 465.
n40 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177; MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 7; infra notes 41-43, 47 and accompanying text.
n41 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177.
n42 Id.
n43 Id.
n44 GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 82.
n45 See Note, supra note 32, at 1948; Sussman, supra note 6, at 209.
n46 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n47 GERHARD, supra note 1, at 180. In her writing, Gerhard specifically confronts and condemns gender-based violence, including battering and other domestic violence, sexual abuse, sexual slavery and exploitation, and international trafficking in women. Id.
n48 RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 48; see Lewis, supra note 35, at 8-9; Jaimee K. Wellerstein, In the Name of Tradition: Eradicating the Harmful Practice of Female Genital Mutilation, 22 LOY. L.A. INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 99, 102 (1999); Wood, supra note 17, at 360.
n49 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 152-56.
n50 Note, supra note 32, at 1947.
n51 See Lewis, supra note 35, at 32; Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 9.
n52 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 17.
n53 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177; CLARE DALTON & ELIZABETH M. SCHNEIDER, BATTERED WOMEN AND THE LAW 945-44 (2001). The public/private distinction has been important in human rights activism because it demonstrates why women, who are often abused in "nonpublic, intimate, private sphere of the family," are not adequately protected by human rights efforts that only focus at stopping human rights violations that are committed in public, by the state. See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177.
n54 See id. at 7-11.
n55 See id. at 3, 8. Gerhard argues that equal rights activism would not exist if there were not actual differences between people that resulted in unequal treatment. See id. at 8. Furthermore, Gerhard is critical of theories of equality that simply aim for women to "attain the status of men." See id. at 9. Rather, she argues for a standard of equality that is super ordinate to the current status of either sex, so that each sex may maintain its differences while enjoying a dignified and equal status in society. See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 8-10.
n56 See id. at 8.
n57 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 32. The Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 provides an example of how "equality" has not been accepted by all women around the world. See id. At this conference, Muslim women from many countries argued against "equality" as a shared goal in the Platform for Action document. Id. Instead, they urged for usage of the word "equity," which implies separate, gender-specific roles for the sexes but fair treatment for women. Id. "Equity" in this sense, while a step in the same direction, is still a far cry from "equality" as understood by Western feminists. See id.
n58 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 38-39.
n59 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 179.
n60 See id.
n61 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 32.
n62 Id. at 25.
n63 See RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 78-79.
n64 See id. These programs involved a targeting of community leaders and presenting them with a cost-benefit analysis of why female circumcision is not a good practice for the community. Id. This approach enjoyed initial success because of its "rewards program," which culminated in an awards ceremony, held during annual cultural days, in which leaders were praised for their decisions to order the cessation of female circumcision. Id.
n65 See id.
n66 RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 78-79.
n67 See id.
n68 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 38.
n69 Id. at 38-39.
n70 Id. at 104.
n71 Id.
n72 See id.
n73 See Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 116. The importance of the equality of all persons is expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that, "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights." Id.
n74 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 91.
n75 See id. at 4.
n76 WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ET AL., FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION 15 (1997); Leigh A. Trueblood, Female Genital Mutilation: A Discussion of International Human Rights Instruments, Cultural Sovereignty and Dominance Theory, 28 DENV. J. INT'L L. & POL'Y 437, 465 (Fall 2000). See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 209.
n77 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 209.
n78 See L. Amede Obiora, Bridges and Barricades: Rethinking Polemics and Intransigence in the Campaign against Female Circumcision, 47 CASE W. RES. L. REV. 275, 357-58 (Winter 1997).
n79 Id. at 357-58.
n80 Trueblood, supra note 76, at 465.
n81 Sussman, supra note 6, at 237-38.
n82 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 206; MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 14, 18; Sussman, supra note 6, at 237-38. In Kenya, the Church of Scotland began an anti-circumcision campaign in 1906, through which it pressured the British colonial government to outlaw the practice. Sussman, supra note 6, at 237. In 1915, the church succeeded in getting a rule passed that banned certain types of circumcision of schoolgirls. See id. The result of these efforts was that circumcision became even more entrenched in Kenyan culture, as a symbol of cultural resistance against an unpopular colonial government. See id. at 237-38. In the years following the fall of British colonialism in Kenya, the post-colonial government supported female circumcision, as a symbol of Kenyan nationalism. See id. at 238. While President Moi reversed this policy in 1982, and argued for criminalization, female circumcision is still legal and commonly practiced in the country. See id. In 1946, British colonial authorities in Sudan passed a law banning female circumcision in that country. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 206. In one of the government's first efforts to enforce the law, police took a local midwife into custody. Id. The local population was outraged at this attack on their midwife and their customs and rose up in force to destroy the jail and free the midwife. Id. at 206-07.
n83 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 176. In Sudan, for example, even medical professionals frequently disregard the 1946 law banning female circumcision in order to ensure that circumcisions are carried out under more hygienic conditions. See id.
n84 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 14. The Minority Rights Group interviewed a traditional birth attendant in Sudan who reported that even rumors of government plans to enforce anti-circumcision legislation in Egypt resulted in a frenzy of circumcisions performed by operators who continued their work under the cover of night. See id. at 14. Secretive, night circumcisions were also reported in Sudan, following the criminalization of the practice in 1946. Sussman, supra note 6, at 239-40.
n85 Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 132.
n86 GERHARD, supra note 1, at 4.
n87 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 14; Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 102.
n88 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 158; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 90; WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ET AL., supra note 76, at 15; Sussman, supra note 6, at 250.
n89 See RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 80.
n90 See id. at 73, 79.
n91 Id. at 79; see Cardenas, supra note 7, at 313.
n92 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 206-07; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 9; Sussman, supra note 6, at 237. In Kenya, the British colonial government attempted to prohibit female circumcision as early as 1906. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 207. After independence, Kenyan politicians supported female circumcision as part of their political campaigns, as part of a nationalist program against the effects of colonialism. See id.
n93 GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 205.
n94 See id. at 203.
n95 See id. at 204. African female activists have achieved a greater measure of effectiveness than their Western counterparts through their ability to organize nongovernmental grassroots organizations focused on changing female circumcision practices and eventually eradicating the practice altogether. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 206. One such organization that has been instrumental in the grassroots effort to end female circumcision is the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children. See id.
n96 See id. at 204.
n97 See id. at 210, 212-13; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 74, 79, 80. International funding can be very effective in initiating grassroots education and activism. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 210. Furthermore, the statements contained in international conventions, when the product of some level of international consensus, constitute important educational tools for grassroots organizations. See id. at 212.
n98 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 206.
n99 See id. at 221.
n100 See id. at 203-04, 216.
n101 Lewis, supra note 35, at 33.
n102 Id.; GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 203-04, 216; Leti Volpp, Feminism Versus Multiculturalism, 101 COLUM. L. REV. 1181, 1208-10 (2001). As an example of one such policy, the Sudan National Committee for Traditional Harmful Practices includes information about the health risks of female circumcision as only one part of an educational outreach program that begins by addressing other reproductive issues. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 197. These issues, including child spacing, contraceptive use, and maternal and child health, are often more readily accepted by local communities than the anti-circumcision message. Id. These educational programs do, however, lay the groundwork for acceptance of this message later on in the course of community education. Id.
n103 RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 73.
n104 See id.
n105 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 16. A seminar held by the Cairo Family Planning Association in 1979 produced a set of fourteen resolutions aimed at eradicating the practice of female circumcision. Out of these fourteen, twelve resolutions focused on the need to educate local populations. See id. at 16-17.
n106 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 207.
n107 See id. at 87.
n108 See id. at 195.
n109 See id. at 206.
n110 See id. at 207.
n111 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177; MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 10. The Minority Rights Group publication cited here was published in 1980 and demonstrates the anti-circumcision movement's focus on health education as a means to stop female genital cutting. See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 10. By 2001, Gruenbaum and exiled Sudanese Women's Union leader Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim recognized the importance of addressing not only health concerns but also women's place in society. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177.
n112 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 10.
n113 Id. at 7; see Wood, supra note 17, at 358-59.
n114 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 10; Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 141.
n115 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177.
n116 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 16.
n117 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177-78.
n118 See id. at 158.
n119 See id. at 87, 209.
n120 See id. at 192.
n121 See id.; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 76-77; Trueblood, supra note 76, at 466-77. In Senegal, a two-year economic and development program intended to empower women resulted in the decision by the targeted village to abandon the practice in 1997. RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 76-77. The program incorporated an emphasis on educating and empowering women through literacy training, the development of analytical skills and problem solving, and health and human rights education. Id. As a result of this initiative, women in this Senegalese village gained the self-confidence to publicly denounce female genital cutting and to end the practice without any direct external pressure to do so. Id.
n122 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 159-60.
n123 See id. This has happened in cases where economic development gives men, and not women, increased power and status, which leads to the adoption of polygamy. See id. at 160. Polygamy has often worked to further entrench female circumcision, often resulting in the adoption of even more invasive practices. See id. at 163. This happens where wives compete with each other for their husband's affections and where he expresses a preference for a wife who is infibulated or infibulated more tightly than the others. See id.
n124 See Gruenbaum, supra note 7, at 158-59.
n125 See id. at 160.
n126 See id. at 163.
n127 See id. at 159-60.
n128 See id. at 195-96.
n129 Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 136. The collaborating organizations are Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a Kenyan group, and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health of women and children in developing countries. Id.
n130 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 195.
n131 See id. at 195-96.
n132 See id.; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 77.
n133 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 195.
n134 Id. at 195; Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 136.
n135 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 195-96.
n136 See id. at 196.
n137 RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 12.
n138 Id.
n139 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 73. The history of female facial scarring in Sudan provides an example of how popular culture can influence aesthetic preferences. See id. The intentional scarring of women's faces, through cutting and scratching, was a widespread practice in Sudan for years, due to an aesthetic preference for scarred faces. Id. The practice has recently been discontinued, in large part because of the widespread influence of a popular song, which praised the beauty of the unscarred face. Id.
n140 See id. at 207. The use of pledge societies in Africa to end female circumcision is another innovative tactic that warrants further investigation, given the success of this approach in eradicating foot binding in China. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 193-95. Foot binding, the Chinese practice of crippling a girl's feet through bending and breaking at a young age in order to prevent proper growth, shares many cultural underpinnings with the practice of female circumcision in Africa and the Middle East. Sussman, supra note 6, at 215. Both practices were intended to ensure virginity and faithfulness on the part of women, and they were each equated with status and marriage prospects for women and sexual pleasure for men. See FAN HONG, FOOT BINDING, FEMINISM AND FREEDOM 45-46 (J.A. Mangan ed., 1997). The practice of foot binding endured in China for ten centuries, despite legislative efforts to criminalize the practice. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 193. In the end, foot binding was eradicated in China through the educative work of Christian missionaries in the late 19th century. See id.; HONG, supra, at 55. The missionaries formed "anti-foot binding societies" which required members to sign pledges that they would refrain from binding their daughters' feet. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 193-94. In Africa, a plan to use pledge societies to end female circumcision would require that members pledge not to circumcise their daughters, with membership providing a social incentive to join. See id. at 194. Because pledges are common for other purposes in Africa, this approach might be effective in ending female circumcision. See id.
n141 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n142 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 209-16.
n143 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n144 See id.; GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177.
n145 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n146 See id.; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 76.
n147 GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 176; see MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n148 Obiora, supra note 78, at 367-68.
n149 Cardenas, supra note 7, at 312
n150 Id.; GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 176; MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n151 MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 5; see GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 189; Cardenas, supra note 7, at 312. There are many health risks that accompany infibulation, regardless of how "hygienically" the procedure was performed: chronic infections of the vagina and uterus, scar formation on the vulval wound that can obstruct walking, growth of implantation dermoid cysts, obstructed labor, rupture of the uterus, painful menstruation due to the difficulty of blood being released, and many other complications. See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 5. Even with the least serious form of circumcision, clitoridectomy, there is certainly at least some harm done to women's ability to experience sexual pleasure. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 189.
n152 Obiora, supra note 78, at 365.
n153 See id. at 370.
n154 See id. at 366-67.
n155 See Mugo, supra note 6, at 464.
n156 See id.
n157 See MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP, supra note 12, at 20.
n158 See id.; GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 209-16; RAHMAN & TOUBIA, supra note 6, at 89.
n159 Wood, supra note 17, at 373.
n160 See id.
n161 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 210-12; MARK W. JANIS, AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL LAW 272 (1999); see also Wood, supra note 17, at 373. For example, the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has been signed "with reservations" by many countries that find the concept of "equal rights" to be incompatible with their religious or cultural views of men and women. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 211. In addition, CEDAW has been criticized as having "no teeth" because it lacks a protocol which would allow women to take complaints against their governments directly to the United Nations. Id. at 211-12.
n162 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 210.
n163 See id. at 210; Boyle & Preves, supra note 7, at 704.
n164 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 213; Wood, supra note 17, at 373.
n165 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 212. For example, Gruenbaum recounts meeting a Nepalese woman at the 1995 NGO Forum in Beijing. Id. This woman explained how she and her female friends in Nepal had been unexposed to international ideas and did not know which rights they could claim. Id. Nepalese feminists used rhetoric from international covenants to make up songs about rights to teach local women. Id. An example of a now-popular lyric among Nepalese women in villages is: "I have the right to choose my own husband and decide for myself when to marry." Id. This is only one example of the way in which a concept from international covenants about women's rights can trickle down to affect the lives of local women through grassroots movements. See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 212.
n166 Id. at 213.
n167 See Lewis, supra note 35, at 10-11; Mugo, supra note 6, at 464.
n168 See Lewis, supra note 35, at 11.
n169 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 1; Cardenas, supra note 7, at 311; Wellerstein, supra note 48, at 115.
n170 See GERHARD, supra note 1, at 4.
n171 See Mugo, supra note 6, at 478-79.
n172 See Obiora, supra note 78, at 330.
n173 Mugo, supra note 6, at 470-71.
n174 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177.
n175 See Mugo, supra note 6, at 478; John Tochukwu Okwubanego, Female Circumcision and the Girl Child in Africa and the Middle East: The Eyes of the World are Blind to the Conquered, 33 INT'L LAW. 159, 161 (1999).
n176 GERHARD, supra note 1, at 177.
n177 See GRUENBAUM, supra note 7, at 177; Mugo, supra note 6, at 479.
n178 See SONDRA HALE, GENDER POLITICS IN SUDAN: ISLAMISM, SOCIALISM, AND THE STATE 238 (1996). $