Islamists continue to abduct hundreds of Swedish girls

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While thousands of women have been abducted by Islamists from Sweden according to media report, more than 900 children were abducted during 2021-2022 and nearly half of them were forcefully taken to Iraq and Somalia for forced genital mutilation and forced marriage.

According to a report published in Express, SVT has done the mapping using statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the past five years, at least 1,151 people have been abducted or illegally detained in another country, according to the channel. 235 of them are over 18 – many of them young adults. More than 916 are children.

But the number in the dark is likely to be large, according to lawyer Ia Sveger, who has represented affected parents and children for two decades.

The number is most likely even higher, she tells SVT.

She explains that relatives do not report because they do not trust that the Swedish authorities will be able to assist in the matter.

This applies above all in abductions that take place to countries that are not affiliated to the Hague Convention – so-called non-convention countries. There, the help you can get from the Foreign Ministry is very limited, says Ia Sveger to SVT.

Less than a third of the people in the cases return to Sweden, the mapping shows.

Close to half of the children who were abducted in an honorable context in 2021 and 2022 are in Iraq or Somalia, according to SVT.

Female genital mutilations in Europe

According to European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), in 2012 it carried out a “Study to map the current situation and trends of female genital mutilation in the European Union” at the request of EU Commissioner Viviane Reding. The main objective of the study was to provide an analysis of the situation of Female Genital Mutilation in EU Member States, particularly concerning prevalence data, the policy and legal framework, and actors dealing with FGM and their approaches. This study summarized the gaps in data collection on FGM across Europe, and also collected methods, tools and good practices to support policy makers in their efforts to follow legal obligations and develop strategies to combat FGM in the EU.

Some Member States have seen an increase in this form of gender-based violence due to migration of people from countries where FGM is practiced.  EIGE’s research − the first EU-wide study on FGM − shows that to effectively combat FGM, the EU needs a comprehensive strategy, based on a gender-sensitive and human-rights approach, which empowers girls and women to be in control of their lives, and which balances the state measures of protection, prevention and prosecution. Improvement in data collection and intensified efforts on the behavioral change among FGM-practicing communities, decision-makers and stakeholders in the countries of origin are equally important.

The report presents among its recommendations a suggestion to implement legal provisions to criminalize FGM. It also points out the need for specialized services for victims of gender-based violence, including counselling and shelters. These services are currently insufficient and unequally distributed in and among the EU Member States. The report also calls for more coordination of FGM-related work among stakeholders at regional, national and international levels.

Estimating the number of girls at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation in EU Member States is very complex owing to the intimate nature of the practice, and also due to the unavailability of data that allows for its measurement.

In 2011:

In Ireland, 1 to 11 % of the 14,577 girls originating from FGM risk countries were likely to be at risk of FGM.

In Portugal, 5 to 23 % of 5,835 girls originating from FGM risk countries were likely to be at risk of FGM.

In Sweden, 3 to 19 % of 59,409 girls originating from FGM risk countries were likely to be at risk of FGM.

In 2016:

In Belgium, 16 % to 27 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 22 544 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

In Cyprus, 12 % to 17 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 758 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

In France, 12 % to 21 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 205 683 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

In Greece, 25 % to 42 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 1 787 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

In Italy, 15 % to 24 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 76 040 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

In Malta, 39 % to 57 % of girls were at risk of FGM out of 486 girls originating from countries where FGM is practiced.

Cases of female genital mutilations in India

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced in India by some Islamic groups. The procedure is generally performed when a girl is seven years old and involves the total or partial removal of the clitoral hood. Consequences of FGM may range from discomfort to sepsis.

FGM is practised by the Dawoodi Bohra, a sect of Shia Islam with one million members in India. Known as khatnakhafz, and khafd, the procedure is performed on six- or seven-year-old girls and involves the total or partial removal of the clitoral hood. The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra, Mufaddal Saifuddin, clarified that while “[r]eligious books, written over a thousand years ago, specify the requirements for both males and females as acts of religious purity”, the Bohras must “respect the law of the land” and refrain from carrying out Islamic female circumcision in countries where it is prohibited. Other Bohra sects including the Sulemani Bohras and the Alavi Bohras, as well as some Sunni communities in Kerala, are reported as practising FGM.

Dr. Meghana Reddy J, a gynecologist, reported in 2018 that khatna can lead to complications in later life, including difficult deliveries and urinary infections. In one case a girl had developed sepsis after having had khatna and great effort had been required to revive her.

In conjunction with a small study, the first of its kind in India, twenty Bohras were examined by Dr. Sujaat Vali, an obstetrician and gynecologist, who reported that only a specialist would be able to separate and cut the clitoral hood without also cutting the clitoris, and the clitoris had been cut in most cases examined.

According to Vali, “[h]alf of them feel some kind of irritation, while 30 percent either feel discomfort while walking/urinating or have lost sensitivity in the area”. The study covered 83 women and 11 men from five Indian states and found that 75 percent of the respondents’ daughters who were at least seven years old had been subjected to FGM.

At least 30 countries in the world are thought to practice female genital mutilation (FGM).

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