“We do not do enough against female genital mutilation”

Once again, history has repeated itself. Four little sisters suffered female genital mutilation during their vacation in Mali in 2013 as the oldest of the sisters, aged 14, made a formal complaint upon returning to her home in Vitoria (Álava). According to the complaint filed, the maternal grandparents took advantage of the girls’ trip while visiting family to carry out this brutal practice, which occurs in 98% of cases in Mali. The case is already in the hands of the Protection of Minors of the Basque Country, and is not the first one detected in the Basque Country and other regions of Spain.

Asha Ismail, founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation, and a tireless activist against female genital mutilation, considers it a “failure” for all of us to continue reading this type of news in the newspapers.

How do you evaluate what happened?

It’s a disgrace for me to hear this. As an activist and survivor of female genital mutilation, I feel anguish, helplessness and a great sense of failure. I consider it a disgrace because it has happened under our noses and we were not been able to avoid it. It shows that we are not doing enough yet and, as I say, it leaves me with a sense of tremendous failure.

How can we prevent this drama from repeating itself?

By providing information, monitoring the inhabitants coming from countries where girls are at risk and communicating with them. Communication can only be possible with a process of social integration in which both parties are involved, cultural diversity is respected, and common values are shared, always avoiding acting in thetwo extremes: the cultural relativism that justifies this practice, and the imposition of norms without previously working on obtaining mutual understanding. The key to avoiding situations like this is in an adequate social intervention that makes it possible for the women and men who practice female genital mutilation to decide to eradicate it by themselves.

What would you say to the parents who, despite the legal prohibition and the damage to their girls’ health, still consider having their daughters undergo female genital mutilation by taking advantage of these trips?

I would tell them not to jeopardize the health of their daughters and that the responsibility is fully in their hands to end this. Female genital mutilation brings nothing but pain and permanent psychological damage, and it is false that it is a religious obligation. It is a crime against human rights. I speak as an African woman and a victim of female genital mutilation: please protect your daughters!

Should we criminalize the parents or is that a double penalty for the girls affected?

The law is not enough if it is not preceded, and then accompanied by information, education, mediation, mutual integration that is well received. We live in a multicultural society and sharing values requires previous and constant work on the institutions on their behalf. It is better to prevent than to punish.

Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte, Rozalén and Arkano join in a concert for the creation of a foster home for girls at risk in Nairobi

The solidarity concert ‘Libres’ will take place on October 30 in the Sala Joy Eslava in Madrid.

• The solidarity concert ‘Libres’, organized with the help of Infarto Producciones, brings together the artists Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte and Rozalén with Arkano as master of ceremonies.
• Maggie Civantos sponsors the project ‘Safe in Nairobi’ for the creation of a foster home for unprotected girls in Kenya.
• Tickets from Fila Cero will be sold as donations for the NGO to Save a Girl Save a Generation

Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte, Rozalén and Arkano join the NGO Save a Girl Save a Generation in a charity concert that will take place next October 30th in the Joy Eslava hall in Madrid. The full collection of the event will go to the project ‘Safe in Nairobi’, sponsored by Maggie Civantos, which aims to create a shelter for unprotected girls in Kenya. Infarction Productions collaborates with the NGO for the organization of this event. Asha Ismail is the founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation that works to achieve a world where women and girls are free from female genital mutilation, forced marriages and all forms of gender violence.

The concert will be the closing of the artistic and solidary cycle ‘Free’ that was inaugurated last September 13 at the Modus Operandi gallery in Madrid. The cycle has been built around the work of Sergio Lardiez, a photographic exhibition for which women of culture, among which are the actresses Maggie Civantos, Aura Garrido, Marisa Paredes, Marta Hazas, Lydia Bosch, Cecilia Freire, singers Soraya, Bely Basarte or journalist Desiree Ndjambo, have posed nude with their mothers or with their daughters to celebrate femininity, naturalness and, above all, the freedom of women. This exhibition concludes on October 23 to become itinerant and travel through Spain. Around the same have been held various activities such as concerts in acoustic, performances, microteatro, storytelling or lectures and conferences that will also conclude the same day 23.

Tickets to the concert can be purchased through the Ticketea website. The doors will open at 7:45 pm and the event will begin at 8:30 p.m. Entry is not allowed once the show has begun. Donations can also be made through the purchase of a FILA CERO ticket with which the project is contributed, but which does not give access to the room.

SOLD OUT:
But you can make a donation by purchasing a FILA CERO ticket that contributes to the project, but does not give access to the room.

Save a Girl Save a Generation

Save a Girl Save a Generation works to contribute to a world where women and girls are free from female genital mutilation, forced marriages and all forms of gender violence. Founded in 2007 by Asha Ismail, she focuses her energies on creating a world in which girls and women have the power to be agents of change and contribute to education, health and leadership in their communities.

Although the reality of female genital mutilation affects 200 million girls and women in the world according to the World Health Organization, it remains totally unknown and invisible in many countries where it is barely practiced and where populations have never heard of it. In spite of everything, the terrible reality of clitoral cutting is increasingly visible thanks to the awareness campaigns and the first-person testimonies of many of its victims.

Much of the work of Save a Girl Save a Generation both in Spain and internationally focuses on raising awareness, inform and train those professional sectors that have a direct relationship with this population, such as health personnel, social workers, educators, police national, teachers, youth and judges, among many other groups. During the last years, the organization has given many conferences and workshops in educational institutions such as the Rey Juan Carlos University or the Complutense University, as well as participating in different events organized by organizations such as UNHCR, Casa África or Amnesty International, among many others. Asha Ismail, founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation, has also recently appeared on the Equality Commission of the Spanish Congress of Deputies and has visited the European Network against Female Genital Mutilation in Brussels, an institution from which Save a Girl Save a Generation has become part of organizations from 20 countries.

Safe in Nairobi Rescue Center

The Safe in Nairobi Rescue Center project aims to provide a safe home for girls rescued from female genital mutilation, sexual exploitation, early marriages and other forms of oppression and gender-based violence against girls under the age of 18. It’s about providing

“We do not do enough against female genital mutilation”

Once again, history has repeated itself. Four little sisters suffered female genital mutilation during their vacation in Mali in 2013 as the oldest of the sisters, aged 14, made a formal complaint upon returning to her home in Vitoria (Álava). According to the complaint filed, the maternal grandparents took advantage of the girls’ trip while visiting family to carry out this brutal practice, which occurs in 98% of cases in Mali. The case is already in the hands of the Protection of Minors of the Basque Country, and is not the first one detected in the Basque Country and other regions of Spain.

Asha Ismail, founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation, and a tireless activist against female genital mutilation, considers it a “failure” for all of us to continue reading this type of news in the newspapers.

How do you evaluate what happened?

It’s a disgrace for me to hear this. As an activist and survivor of female genital mutilation, I feel anguish, helplessness and a great sense of failure. I consider it a disgrace because it has happened under our noses and we were not been able to avoid it. It shows that we are not doing enough yet and, as I say, it leaves me with a sense of tremendous failure.

How can we prevent this drama from repeating itself?

By providing information, monitoring the inhabitants coming from countries where girls are at risk and communicating with them. Communication can only be possible with a process of social integration in which both parties are involved, cultural diversity is respected, and common values are shared, always avoiding acting in thetwo extremes: the cultural relativism that justifies this practice, and the imposition of norms without previously working on obtaining mutual understanding. The key to avoiding situations like this is in an adequate social intervention that makes it possible for the women and men who practice female genital mutilation to decide to eradicate it by themselves.

What would you say to the parents who, despite the legal prohibition and the damage to their girls’ health, still consider having their daughters undergo female genital mutilation by taking advantage of these trips?

I would tell them not to jeopardize the health of their daughters and that the responsibility is fully in their hands to end this. Female genital mutilation brings nothing but pain and permanent psychological damage, and it is false that it is a religious obligation. It is a crime against human rights. I speak as an African woman and a victim of female genital mutilation: please protect your daughters!

Should we criminalize the parents or is that a double penalty for the girls affected?

The law is not enough if it is not preceded, and then accompanied by information, education, mediation, mutual integration that is well received. We live in a multicultural society and sharing values requires previous and constant work on the institutions on their behalf. It is better to prevent than to punish.

Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte, Rozalén and Arkano join in a concert for the creation of a foster home for girls at risk in Nairobi

The solidarity concert ‘Libres’ will take place on October 30 in the Sala Joy Eslava in Madrid.

• The solidarity concert ‘Libres’, organized with the help of Infarto Producciones, brings together the artists Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte and Rozalén with Arkano as master of ceremonies.
• Maggie Civantos sponsors the project ‘Safe in Nairobi’ for the creation of a foster home for unprotected girls in Kenya.
• Tickets from Fila Cero will be sold as donations for the NGO to Save a Girl Save a Generation

Vetusta Morla, Alice Wonder, Delaporte, Rozalén and Arkano join the NGO Save a Girl Save a Generation in a charity concert that will take place next October 30th in the Joy Eslava hall in Madrid. The full collection of the event will go to the project ‘Safe in Nairobi’, sponsored by Maggie Civantos, which aims to create a shelter for unprotected girls in Kenya. Infarction Productions collaborates with the NGO for the organization of this event. Asha Ismail is the founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation that works to achieve a world where women and girls are free from female genital mutilation, forced marriages and all forms of gender violence.

The concert will be the closing of the artistic and solidary cycle ‘Free’ that was inaugurated last September 13 at the Modus Operandi gallery in Madrid. The cycle has been built around the work of Sergio Lardiez, a photographic exhibition for which women of culture, among which are the actresses Maggie Civantos, Aura Garrido, Marisa Paredes, Marta Hazas, Lydia Bosch, Cecilia Freire, singers Soraya, Bely Basarte or journalist Desiree Ndjambo, have posed nude with their mothers or with their daughters to celebrate femininity, naturalness and, above all, the freedom of women. This exhibition concludes on October 23 to become itinerant and travel through Spain. Around the same have been held various activities such as concerts in acoustic, performances, microteatro, storytelling or lectures and conferences that will also conclude the same day 23.

Tickets to the concert can be purchased through the Ticketea website. The doors will open at 7:45 pm and the event will begin at 8:30 p.m. Entry is not allowed once the show has begun. Donations can also be made through the purchase of a FILA CERO ticket with which the project is contributed, but which does not give access to the room.

SOLD OUT:
But you can make a donation by purchasing a FILA CERO ticket that contributes to the project, but does not give access to the room.

Save a Girl Save a Generation

Save a Girl Save a Generation works to contribute to a world where women and girls are free from female genital mutilation, forced marriages and all forms of gender violence. Founded in 2007 by Asha Ismail, she focuses her energies on creating a world in which girls and women have the power to be agents of change and contribute to education, health and leadership in their communities.

Although the reality of female genital mutilation affects 200 million girls and women in the world according to the World Health Organization, it remains totally unknown and invisible in many countries where it is barely practiced and where populations have never heard of it. In spite of everything, the terrible reality of clitoral cutting is increasingly visible thanks to the awareness campaigns and the first-person testimonies of many of its victims.

Much of the work of Save a Girl Save a Generation both in Spain and internationally focuses on raising awareness, inform and train those professional sectors that have a direct relationship with this population, such as health personnel, social workers, educators, police national, teachers, youth and judges, among many other groups. During the last years, the organization has given many conferences and workshops in educational institutions such as the Rey Juan Carlos University or the Complutense University, as well as participating in different events organized by organizations such as UNHCR, Casa África or Amnesty International, among many others. Asha Ismail, founder of Save a Girl Save a Generation, has also recently appeared on the Equality Commission of the Spanish Congress of Deputies and has visited the European Network against Female Genital Mutilation in Brussels, an institution from which Save a Girl Save a Generation has become part of organizations from 20 countries.

Safe in Nairobi Rescue Center

The Safe in Nairobi Rescue Center project aims to provide a safe home for girls rescued from female genital mutilation, sexual exploitation, early marriages and other forms of oppression and gender-based violence against girls under the age of 18. It’s about providing