Militants have ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq’s northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, the United Nations said on Thursday. The “fatwa” issued by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Jacqueline Badcock told reporters by videolink from Erbil, Iraq.

“This is something very new for Iraq, particularly in this area, and is of grave concern and does need to be addressed,” she said. “This is not the will of Iraqi people, or the women of Iraq in these vulnerable areas covered by the terrorists.” ISIS — which also calls itself Islamic State — has declared a caliphate stretching from Syria into Iraq after rampaging through the north and west of the country.

Female Genital Mutilation (often referred to as FGM) is a destructive operation, during which the female genitals are partly or entirely removed or injured with the goals of inhibiting a woman’s sexual feelings. Most often the mutilation is performed before puberty, often on girls between the age of four and eight, but recently it is increasingly performed on nurslings who are only a couple of days, weeks or months old.


Source: http://therightscoop.com/isis-issues-fatwa-that-iraqi-females-must-undergo-genital-mutilation/