全球領導人敦促將女性割禮視為如愛滋病毒般的優先事項
資料來源：艾瑪·巴塔; 2019年6月7日;路透社；財團法人台灣紅絲帶基金會編譯
加拿大溫哥華（湯姆森路透基金會） –根據人權運動者所關心有越來越多的證據顯示虐待行為比想像中的更為普遍，– 在應對女性生殖器官割禮問題，應該成為像應對愛滋病毒/愛滋病一樣的是全球優先事項
古老的儀式，包括部分或全部切除外生殖器，可能會導致嚴重的健康問題。沒有人知道有多少女孩因流血致死或在後續生命中因相關的分娩併發症而死亡。
據聯合國數據顯示，全世界約有2億女孩和女性受到女性外陰切割的影響，但一些人權運動者表示，這是一種「大規模的低估」，因為它忽視了女性生殖器切割的真正地理分佈，更忽略了兒童和老年女性。
聯合國的估計數基於來自30個國家的數據，幾乎全部來自非洲，而加拿大婦女分娩會議的人權運動者表示，有研究或傳聞證據顯示亦有其他超過30多個國家發生了女性生殖器切割事件。
美洲女性權利組織立即平等( Equality Now )的主任Shelby Quast說：「我們每天都得知有更多的暗袋，在其中這些事件正在發生」。
「無論在哪裡都存在著保守主義、父權制的真正暗袋，我們開始看到這是控制女性身體和控制女性的另一種形式」。
聯合國數據中未考慮到的國家包括喬治亞、俄羅斯、阿曼、斯里蘭卡、伊朗、印度、巴基斯坦、馬來西亞、泰國和新加坡。
今年早些時候，來自肯塔基州一個嚴格的美國白人基督徒社區的女士告訴湯姆森路透基金會，她小時候經歷過女性生殖器切割。
這個故事引起了一些基督徒強烈的反對，但Quast說類似的案件已經曝光。
一些人權運動者也對上週末發布的一項醫學研究感到驚訝，該研究顯示沙烏地阿拉伯亦實行女性生殖器切割 – 而這並不是傳統上與該儀式有關聯的國家。
「我們知道它發生在每個大陸，但我們所缺乏的是好的數據」，Quast說。 「如果你不能計算數量，就很難獲得資金來終結它」。
英國反女性割禮慈善機構「蘭花」( British anti-FGM charity Orchid Orchid )估計，2018年至2021年期間，投入FGM議題的全球資金約為2億美元。
相較之下，愛滋病毒影響了約3,700萬人，2017年卻吸引了200億美元的資金。
「我們不想破壞愛滋病毒運動的重要性，我們希望從愛滋病毒運動中學習」，蘭花機構的創始人朱莉婭·拉拉–馬哈拉赫於全球最大的兩性平等會議「婦女分娩會議」中告訴湯姆森路透基金會。
拉拉–馬哈拉赫表示愛滋病毒就像女性生殖器割禮一樣，曾經是一個被忽視和禁忌的問題，藉由草根活動家和倖存者參與激發了全球行動。
人權運動者呼籲加強數據收集之工作，以便全面地評估女性生殖器切割的全球規模，並更好地針對終結束女性生殖器切割而努力。
Quast表示南美洲存在著訊息上特殊的落差。
根據2015年商定的全球發展目標，世界各國領導人承諾到2030年要結束女性生殖器官割禮。人權運動者表示，更好的數據將有助於維持各國政府對其所做的承諾負責。
路透社健康訊息©2019- Medscape – 2019年六月五日。
World Leaders Urged to Make Female Circumcision a Priority Like HIV
By Emma Batha; June 07, 2019;
VANCOUVER, Canada (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) should be made a global priority like HIV/AIDs, according to campaigners concerned about growing evidence that the abusive practice was more widespread than thought.
The ancient ritual, involving the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, can cause severe health problems. No one knows how many girls bleed to death or die later in life from related childbirth complications.
Some 200 million girls and women are impacted by FGM worldwide, according to U.N. data, but some activists said this was a “massive underestimate” as it ignored the true geographic spread of FGM and omitted children and older women.
The U.N. estimate is based on data from 30 countries, almost all in Africa, while campaigners at the Women Deliver conference in Canada said there were studies or anecdotal evidence showing FGM happened in more than 30 other countries.
“We’re learning every day that there are more pockets where this is happening,” said Shelby Quast, Americas director at women’s rights group Equality Now.
“Wherever there’s real pockets of conservatism, of patriarchy, we’re starting to see that this is yet another form of controlling women’s bodies and controlling women.”
Countries not taken into account in the U.N. data included Georgia, Russia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Iran, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
Earlier this year a woman from a strict white American Christian community in the state of Kentucky told the Thomson Reuters Foundation how she had undergone FGM as a child.
The story provoked a backlash from some Christians, but Quast said similar cases had come to light.
Some campaigners were also surprised by a medical study released at the weekend showing FGM was practiced in Saudi Arabia – not a country traditionally linked with the ritual.
“We know it happens on every continent, but what we don’t have is good data,” Quast said. “If you can’t count it, it’s very hard to get funding to end it.”
British anti-FGM charity Orchid estimated global funding for FGM was about $200 million for the period 2018 to 2021.
HIV by comparison – which affects about 37 million people – attracted $20 billion in funding in 2017.
“We don’t want to undermine the importance of the HIV movement, we want to learn from the HIV movement,” Orchid founder Julia Lalla-Maharajh told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at Women Deliver, the world’s largest gender equality conference.
Lalla-Maharajh said HIV – like FGM – was once a neglected and taboo issue with grassroots activists and survivors instrumental in galvanizing global action.
Campaigners called for data collection to be ramped up in order to fully assess the global scale of FGM and better target efforts to end it.
Quast said there was a particular gap in information from South America.
World leaders have pledged to end FGM by 2030 under global development goals agreed in 2015. Campaigners said better data would help hold governments accountable on their promises.
Reuters Health Information © 2019
Cite this: World Leaders Urged to Make Female Circumcision a Priority Like HIV – Medscape – Jun 05, 2019.