Was just looking at L’s igoogle homepage, and saw this news item linked Egypt forbids female circumcision – for those that don’t know, female circumcision, or female genital mutilation is a barbaric assault on the bodies of women across large tracts of Northern Africa and throughout the middle east. It’s hideous and for decades western governments have been tip-toeing round the subject for fear of upsetting fragile relations with the countries that practice it.
So whenever one of those countries decides to drag it’s arse out of the stone-age and ban it, it’s cause for celebration. The full celebration is on ice til the last country bans it, but Egypt is a bit of a trend-setter in terms of Muslim nations moving forward (still got a hell of a long way to go, but they’re generally way more progressive than, say, Saudi Arabia). Aparently they banned it years ago, but never enforced it, but following the death of a young girl undergoing the ‘surgery’, the pressure mounted for a total enforced ban, and they’ve gone for it. Well done Egypt. Now, how about sorting out your security forces and supporting those investigating other human rights abuses…