“It is our business” – reactions about criminalization of the female genital mutilation

Information Center of Kakheti 

“We know our business; let the government do their job,” residents of Chantliskure village, Kvareli municipality, reacted to the decision of the government to make the female genital mutilation (FGM) punishable under the criminal law. The ethnic Avar residents of the village say the FGM is obligatory for every girl and regardless the prohibition they will continue the tradition, which they associate with the religion. 

“Is not it shame when your little girls smoke cigarettes?! Are not you ashamed of wearing “short pants?!”

“Why should they prohibit it? Everybody has their traditions. When in Rome do as Romans do. It is not new tradition; we follow this tradition for centuries and why should the government ban it? Do they visit our village only for this purpose? Let them ask about road and other social problems first. It is not their business what I will do with my daughter. Did they carry her during 9 months? Did they give birth and grow up her? Why should they ban it? It is not their business.”

“Of course we will do that. It is told by the God and we will not leave daughters mongrel. If you do not baptize and wash a child, she/he will stay mongrel. Everybody has their own traditions; it is necessary. Nobody has died because of that,” residents of Chantliskure village told ICK.

Unlike locals, Imam of the village Zagir Omarov categorically denied the practice of FGM in the village. He said similar facts happened in the past and added that the tradition has connection with the religion but cannot explain the link between the FGM and Islam.

“Nobody does anything without my permission here. Similar facts happened in the past. I myself heard about it when you heard. It is not violence. It was done by the consent of parents. I read Koran like newspaper and do not understand its content,” the Imam of Chantliskure said.

The society learned about female genital mutilation facts in the three villages of Kvareli municipality – Chantliskure, Tivi and Saruso short time ago from the publication of the Institute of War and Peace Reporting. Girls are mutilated at home. Locals claim if the girls are mutilated they do not have sexual desire and do not betray husbands.

After the information was disseminated, Public Defender of Georgia Ucha Nanuashvili also confirmed that there was practice of FGM in the villages of ethnic Avars in Kvareli municipality. The ombudsman believes the FGM shall be punishable under the criminal law.

Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani said the FGM facts will be punished under the criminal law. A special working group was created in the government’s administration to address this problem.

Chief specialist at the Ministry of Healthcare Vera Baziari said the FGM may result into multiple health problems, including shock and death.

According to the statistic data, up to 3 million women are mutilated every year. FGM facts are mostly spread in Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and Ethiopia. This brutal procedure is conducted in Christian countries too and depends on the traditions of concrete ethnic communities. There are about 200 million mutilated and harassed women in 30 countries worldwide.