A Russian journalist who reports on female genital mutilation says introducing prison sentences for perpetrators will not bring about an end to the practice, after a report released last week said that FGM was taking place in remote villages in the republic of Dagestan.

Marina Akhmedova, based in Moscow, has recently returned from the North Caucasus region, where she interviewed survivors of FGM. She is calling for a programme of on-the-ground advocacy.



Responding to a draft bill introduced by MP Maria Maksakova-Igenbergs last week that called for the criminalisation of FGM, with sentences of up to 10 years, Akhmedova said such strict measures would only be seen as religious persecution and could drive the practice underground.

Speaking to the Guardian, she said: “It is really difficult to help these women as they don’t consider themselves victims. First you need to persuade them that they are victims. Targeting them will only drive them to do this in secret. If religious leaders say it is right for a girl to undergo circumcision, people will do it.”

She suggested that Russia needed to adopt an “accurate and moderate” approach and work with religious leaders as well as doctors and teachers to persuade them to abandon FGM.

A report published by the human rights group Russian Justice Initiative (RJI) said there was evidence that FGM of girls under the age of three was happening in remote, mainly-Muslim villages in Dagestan. It came to wider attention when two religious leaders responded with comments in support of the practice.

Ismail Berdiyev, the mufti and chairman of the North Caucasus Muslim Coordination Centre, said FGM does not contradict Islam and is a “purely Dagestani ritual” that is necessary “to limit the unnecessary energy” of women. He also suggested in a radio interview that all women should undergo FGM to curb their sexual feelings, later retracting some of his comments.

Vsevolod Chaplin, an Orthodox Christian leader, posted on Facebook in support of Berdiyev, saying that traditional practices should be allowed to continue without interference.

Maria Baronova, an opposition activist, responded to the report by standing outside Moscow’s main mosque with a sign saying “cut sheep not women”.



Akhmedova said Baronova’s protest amounted to an “incitement of ethnic hatred”.

“The mosque she stood outside belongs to Moscow Muftiyat, which has officially rejected FGM,” Akhmedova said. “Not all Muslims practise circumcision, and there was nothing in her actions that showed a desire to help the women of Dagestan.

“The opinion of religious leaders on the case in Dagestan is divided. The media made it out that this is a wholly Islamic problem, but this is not the case. Some of the women I spoke to themselves felt ashamed for not having a clitoris, but others suggested that it is a practice that they have done for years and will continue to do.”

RJI found that FGM is carried out predominantly in five mountainous areas, where the procedure is usually performed on girls under the age of three, but also on some up to the age of 12.



Vanessa Kogan, the group’s executive director, said: “The report would not have received nearly as much coverage if it hadn’t been for the outrageous statements made by Berdiyev and Chaplin. Their statements did not really contribute anything concrete to the questions surrounding the practice of FGM, but they spoke volumes about both Islamic and Christian religious leaders’ intentions to control women’s bodies and their sexuality.

“We don’t want to give the impression that FGM is a religious practice, and we want to keep the focus on the fact that the procedure is a gross violation of women and children’s rights. These communities are among the last to have converted to Islam in the region, and many experts interviewed expressed the view that the practice is rooted in pre-Islamic tradition adat or customary law.

“At the same time, we acknowledge that the support of religious leaders may be a key component in working to eradicate the problem.”

Kogan added no further research was planned, saying: “There is no evidence that FGM is being practised anywhere else in Russia on a systematic scale. As far as we know, FGM is limited to Dagestan and within Dagestan the practice is limited to certain isolated communities.”

Equality Now, an international human rights organisation, said the report was a concern and more research was needed to have a better understanding of the situation.



Mary Wandia, who works for the group, said: “We are only starting to get information on the prevalence of FGM in Russia but it is very concerning that all 25 women interviewed for this report had undergone it. We need further investigation.



“FGM can no longer be seen as a supposedly ‘African’ issue. It is a human rights violation which affects hundreds of millions of women and girls around the world. Recently, we have had better data from countries such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Colombia, Yemen and others, which shows that FGM is a global issue and needs to be urgently addressed.”

The United Nations warns that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut, mostly before they reached puberty, and has recently classified it as child abuse.

FGM is defined by the World Health Organisation as procedures that intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. FGM has no health benefits and is recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.