They Took Me and Told Me Nothing: Female Genital Mutilation in Iraqi Kurdistan

In Iraqi Kurdistan a survey by the Ministry of Human Rights in 2009 suggests that in one district over 40 percent of women and girls aged 11-24 years have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). An NGO survey covering a wider geographical area gives even higher figures. The practice involves the cutting out of the clitoris, and is carried out mainly on girls between the ages of three and 12 years at the request of their female relatives, usually by a traditional midwife using an unsterile razor blade. As Gola S. explains, girls are often unaware what is about to happen to them, they experience great pain during the procedure
and afterwards, and the practice can have lasting physical, sexual and psychological health consequences.