#UN calls for ban on #female #circumcision
The UN General #Assembly's #human #rights committee has approved a resolution urging a #global ban on female #genital #mutilation, calling it harmful practice and a serious #threat to the #psychological, #sexual and #reproductive #health of #women and #girls.
The resolution calls on the 193 UN member states to condemn FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and to enact legislation prohibiting the dangerous procedure. The document also urged for education campaigns to be set up in the countries practicing FGM, in a bid to help to eliminate it.
The resolution, sponsored by 110 countries, is very likely to be approved by the General Assembly, which is expected to take it up in the second half of December. However, when approved the document would not be legally binding and will just indicate high international concern surrounding the subject.
Italy's UN Ambassador, Cesare Maria Ragaglini, called the document "a breakthrough in the international campaign to end the harmful practice of FGM" expressing hope that it can “change the fate of many young girls around the world.”
Female genital mutilation or female circumcision is commonplace in the western, eastern, and north-eastern regions of Africa, in some countries in Asia and the Middle East, where millions of girls and women suffer from this harmful practice annually.
The procedure is also a growing concern in western countries, because it is often practiced in immigrant communities. In the UK some 6,500 girls are at risk of female genital mutilation every year.
According to WHO (World Health Organization) about 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to FGM. In Africa, about 92 million girls of age of 10 years and above are estimated to have undergone FGM.
The main cause of female genital mutilation is a mix of cultural, social and religious factors. FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl "properly" and is motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behavior. Although no Muslim or Christian leaders speak for FGM, many practitioners believe that the procedure is stipulated by religion.
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls, between infancy and age 15 and occasionally on adult women. In Africa, about three million girls are at risk of FGM annually.
WHO has many times reiterated in its reports that FGM does not have any health benefits for girls and women.
The consequences include cysts and abscesses, damage urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction and difficulties with childbirth. Many women who have undergone circumcision suffer anxiety and depression.
In most cases the procedure is carried out in insanitary conditions, often causing infections which can result in further complications and sometimes death.
In 1997, #WHO issued a joint statement with the #UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund against the practice of FGM. Another statement, with wider UN support, was issued in February 2008 to call for the abolishment of FGM. RT Published: 27 November, 2012, 21:44
#Archbhoo

Image-(Reuters / Darrin Zammit Lupi)

And here's a glimpse for Necro Talon. Befitting her design, her fightung style was made to be brutal.

NO MORE KONYs


A viral video exposing the horrors wrought by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has triggered an avalanche of attention, bringing #awareness to tens of millions of people in just a week's time. Now @Amnesty needs your help to transform unprecedented public awareness into meaningful action.

For more than two decades, #Amnesty International has documented the abuses committed by the Lord's Resistance Army and their horrific impact on the lives of countless civilians in #Uganda, the #CentralAfricanRepublic, the Democratic Republic of #Congo, and South #Sudan.

The LRA's crimes are atrocious - #mutilation, #abduction, #torture, #rape, sexual #slavery, pillaging, the conscription of #children under the age of 15, and intentionally directing attacks against civilians.

The International Criminal Court indicted #Kony and four other #LRA leaders for #warcrimes and crimes against #humanity in 2005. But despite persistent calls for his arrest from Amnesty and other #HumanRights groups, Kony and other LRA indictees have remained at large for nearly seven years.

But Kony is just the tip of the iceberg in a region that has for decades been fraught with conflict and impunity. In the countries in which the LRA has operated since it was flushed out of Uganda - the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan - both government forces and other armed groups like the LRA have been responsible for decades of violence and abuses against civilians, including the abduction and forced recruitment of #ChildSoldiers, with little to no accountability. Further, the unregulated trade in small weapons and ammunition has ensured that guns and bullets are easy to obtain.

Last week, the Obama administration congratulated the organization behind the viral internet campaign targeted at Kony and reasserted its commitment to end the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa.1

But the White House must also pressure governments in the region by withholding military aid until they can demonstrate that they are taking concrete action to stop recruiting child soldiers, to demobilize or release children who are already part of government forces, and to bring those who recruit child soldiers to #justice. Action is particularly crucial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where children have died while carrying ammunition and supplies through the jungle for government forces.2

Call on President Obama to enforce legislation aimed at ending the recruitment and use of child soldiers today: http://bit.ly/wS07Cq

In solidarity,
Adotei Akwei
Director of Government Relations and International Advocacy
#AmnestyInternational #USA

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/uganda/9132991/Joseph-Kony-2012-Obama-administration-congratulates-success-of-campaign.html
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/africa/29soldiers.html

falta la mitad #mutilation cn mi playera q tiene una eventración y mi bata dsgarrada cn sangre. #disfraces #halloween

This is what it is tomorrow: partying with @itsBBU performances by odd couple n @KrisDeLaRash photos by @BLRDSGN #mutilation by me ;)

I worked on a computer game based on the movie FREE WILLY back in 1995. Guess I was bored.

Bored again while working on a game based on the LITTLE RASCALS movie (again in 1995).