11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

FGM not illegal in Kuridish region; no government assistance for victims ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 24022]

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is not illegal and was reported in the rural areas of the Kurdish region. In March NGOs organized the publication of an open letter to KRG officials in various regional newspapers to demand legislation banning FGM. More than 13,000 petitioners reportedly endorsed the letter. The government offered no substantive assistance for victims of FGM."

Document(s): Open document

16.03.2005 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

FGM in the tribal areas of Iraqi Kurdistan ("original document (English)") [ID 10369]

"Yet FGM is known to be practised throughout the Arabian peninsular, particularly in northern Saudi Arabia, as well as in southern Jordan and Iraq. A recent survey by the German NGO WADI, based in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah, showed well over 60 percent of women in the rural area of Germian, about 150 km southwest of city, had been circumcised. There is also circumstantial evidence to suggest that FGM is present in Syria. Then, of course, there is Iran. Given the frequency of the phenomenon in the tribal areas of Iraqi Kurdistan immediately adjoining the Iranian border, and the population's close familial and cultural links to the Kurds further east, it is only logical to assume FGM exists there too."

Document(s): original document (English)