This certainly does raise some thorny legal issues...As Bass points out, people are being
punished for things they (or their relatives) MIGHT do in the future.

Western countries have taken different approaches to this issue regarding their immigrant
populations. As of now, in The US, although it is illegal to circumcise girls under 18, there is no
mechanism in place for punishing those who do it abroad, although there is lobbying underway to
expand the law. In some European countries, especially in Scandinavia, the law extends beyond
national boundaries (inspired by earlier laws dealing with Scandinavian men having sex with
underaged individuals in places such as Thailand and then being prosecuted in their home
countries). The problem, of course, is how to enforce. I do not not mean to be crude, but do we
really expect (or would we tolerate) for customs officials to perform genital exams on girl returning
from Africa?

I attended a conference in Norway last year where these issues were being debated. Apparently,
Norwegian officials had at one point proposed that all African immigrant girls would have to
undergo (yearly, i think) gynecological exams. When protests came in that this would be
disriminatory and racist, the suggestion came up to instead force these exams on ALL girls in
Norway....I am not quite sure how it has all played out since then.

What i would conclude, however, is that there needs to be a greater appreciation for the difficult
position that many Africans, including Gambians, find themselves in as they try to negotiate
wildly divergent demands from various authorities, be they "western" or "traditional."  Talk about
being between a rock and a hard place.....

Thank you, Ylva



On Sat, 15 May 2004, abdoukarim sanneh wrote:

> Court acts to save girls from mutilation
>
> Gambia condemns Spanish ruling preventing girls' circumcision
>
> Ben Sills in Granada
> Saturday May 15, 2004
> The Guardian
>
> The Spanish judiciary was yesterday embroiled in a simmering row with Gambia over the best
way to protect girls from circumcision after a court confiscated the passports of three Gambian
girls to stop them being repatriated for surgery.
> Ruling that the three were in real danger of genital mutilation, Judge Eva Platero called for their
passports to be withheld until they are 18 and ordered twice-yearly gynaecological examinations
for them.
> Gambia's envoy to Spain, Juan Antonio del Moral, called the decision "repressive" and an
anomaly in a democracy.
> "While I welcome efforts to eradicate this practice, it's important to recognise that the
restrictions on travel and the examination regime that have been imposed on these girls are both
intrusive and repressive," he said. "It's important to strike a balance between harm prevention and
restriction of liberties. In this case I believe the judge has not managed to do that."
> The honorary consul added that the ruling in effect punished the parents for something that had
not taken place. "In a democratic country that is not supposed to happen."
> Female circumcision is believed to be common among west African communities living in
Catalonia. It normally happens when girls return to west Africa to visit their families, although
there have been occasional reports of operations carried out in Spain. The practice is still
considered normal by many older people in west Africa, particularly those from rural
communities.
> Radio Girona said that the three girls, from San Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava, had two
older sisters who had been circumcised on a previous visit to their grandparents in Gambia. The
girls' father, who has Spanish residency, said that there was nothing he could do to protect his
daughters because it was traditional practice.
> The 7,500-strong Gambian community has become well established across Catalonia since
the 1970s and is generally well integrated. But the high incidence of genital mutilation has long
been a cause for concern. A spokesman for Unicef in Gambia said the government was unwilling
to legislate against the practice because it was entrenched in traditional society.
> Anna Farjas, an expert in ethnic groups who has conducted studies of the community, said:
"It's very important that we eradicate this practice of mutilation. I welcome the judge's ruling, not
just because of her decision, but because she did it in the right way, preparing the ground
through meetings with the people involved to make sure they understood."
> Spain has set up an umbrella group of prosecutors, doctors, social services workers and
judges to preempt mutilation. Parents are warned about the possible consequences, medical and
legal. But Mr Del Moral said the approach involved too much repression and not enough
education.
> "Many of the Gambian people living in Catalonia come from rural communities and so the level
of literacy is low. We need to help them to understand that this practice offends the dignity and
violates the rights of their daughters."
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>
> Three years ago, the town of Banyoles, which has one of the largest Gambian populations in
the province, warned the west African population of the potential punishments for female
circumcision after it was suspected that a Gambian grandmother was performing the operation in
the town.
> Although the practice is illegal in Spain, it is difficult for the courts to act because it takes
place outside the country and parents claim to have no prior knowledge.
> In 2002, the same court in San Feliu de Guixols shelved a case against the parents of four
sisters who had been circumcised. The parents claimed that the operations had not been
planned before their trip to Africa and the judge ruled that the court therefore had no jurisdiction
over what had happened.
>
>
> Special report
> Spain
>
> News guide
> Spain
>
> Useful links
> Spanish interior ministry
> Basque autonomous government
> Basque nationalism interactive guide
> Catalan government
> El Mundo newspaper
> El Pais newspaper
>
>
>
>
>
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