AHA Foundation
Encyclopedia
The AHA Foundation is a nonprofit organization
for the defense of Muslim
women's rights
. It was founded by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
in 2007 and is based in New York, NY in the United States
.
Originallly formed to support Muslim
dissidents who had suffered for their religious
or political
beliefs, the organization's scope was narrowed September 2008 to focus on the women's rights
.
The goal of the AHA Foundation is to combat crimes against women, such as forced marriage
s, female genital mutilation, and honor killing
s. It's key activities include education and outreach.
Sharia
, or Islam
ic law, covers many aspects of life and is open to interpretation. The following affect women's rights:
United Kingdom
Sharia tribunals have operated in the United Kingdom
(U.K.) since 2008 to mediate
and make legally binding decisions regarding inheritance
, marriage
and divorce
, a type of mediation system which is also in place for Jewish
and Anglican
communities. Within the first year, there were 85 tribunal courts established. Theoretically, the Sharia tribunals should be a fair and equitable, however there is some research that they are discriminatory to women. In the U.K. their decisions are legally binding and can be enforced by country courts and high courts
, provided both parties in a case have agreed to be ruled by Sharia law. Concern arises for women who coerced
into entering tribunal mediation and will not be treated, nor her female witnesses, as equals. Further, there are none of the following: legal advice
or support, recorded proceedings, searchable judgement
s, process to monitor the system, right to appeal
, or control of appointment of the mediating judges. Another concern is that decisions that are not congruent with European and British law have been issued by the Sharia tribunal courts.
United States
While there are no Sharia tribunal courts in the United States, there have been decisions made in state courts and more than fifty cases in state Appellate Court
s regarding Sharia law. An example is a New Jersey
case where, because it was considered part of his religious practices, a man was found innocent of marital rape; That case was overturned in Appellate Court.
Some Americans are particularly concerned about Sharia law becoming integrated with the United States legal system. Fearing that the United States could integration Sharia tribunals like the United Kingdom, a bill was introduced in the state of Oklahoma called "Save Our State" to ensure that legal cases are not decided based upon international law or Sharia law. The measure was approved by state voters, but a United States district court
issued a temporary restraining order preventing the law from being enacted due to a suit filed violated Muslim people's constitutional rights of religion and that the law stigmitizes Muslims. The restraining order is intended to give sufficient time to review the case before the election results are certified by the Election Board
.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the mutilation of girl's clitoris, and often the labia, usually from 3 to 13 years of age, but can be done early and as late as before marriage or pregnancy. The World Health Organization
(WHO) estimates that there are 100 to 140 million female genital mutilation victims, most from Africa
, in the world. The procedure can result in problems urinating, severe bleeding and complications during childbirth, with no health benefits. It is usually performed for religious or cultural purposes.
United Kingdom
Building upon and replacing the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985
, the British Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003
makes it illegel to commit FGM, take girls out of the country for the procedure, and increases the penalty of imprisonment to 14 years. As of 2009, there had not been a single case of FGM prosecuted, and girls are subject to the procedure when they return with their families to their country of origin over Christmas holidays.
Netherlands
Netherlands has received a large influx of immigrants from countries that practice female genital mutilation, particularly from Somalia
which is known for its severe FGM practices. As a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali unsuccessfully campaigned to create a control system for girls from at-risk communities by requiring pediatricians and child medical professionals to screen them for FGM.
Norway
The Norwegian Action Plan to combat FGM against residents and immigrants was initiated in 2000. The present plan focuses on prevention, public awareness and required reporting of likely or completed FGM practices by public employees to the Municipal Child Welfare Service
(MCWS) department. The plan has assigned metrics to measure success, including targeted prevention activities for the holiday season and prosecution of offenders.
United States
Federal law at the moment makes FGM illegal but does not punish parents or relatives who take young girls out of the country to undergo FGM.
A case in Georgia
in 2010 involved the removal of a nine-month old girl's clitoris by her mother, who faces female genital mutilation and child cruelty
charges, and lost custody
to the baby girl's father.
A bipartisan bill introduced in 2010, the “Girls Protection Act” (H.R. 5137) sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), would make it a federal crime to transport a minor outside the United States for the purpose of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Girls Protection Act would extend current U.S. federal law to ensure that the same penalties that exist for domestic FGM apply to those involved in the transport of a minor abroad for the purpose of FGM.
Forced marriages are sometimes described as an "arranged marriage," but the difference is dependent on how much pressure is put on the girl to accept the arrangement. Resistance to this sort of marriage very often leads to severe beatings and the punishment can go as far as to lead to an "honor" killing.
United Kingdom
The British government has set up a Forced Marriage Unit and increased police awareness of forced marriages and honor-related violence. The forced marriage unit has a confidential helpline and is the UK’s ‘one-stop shop’ for leading the development of government policy on forced marriage, coordinating outreach projects and providing support and information to those at risk.
Forced marriage protection orders, made possible under British law, offer help to people who face the prospect of being forced into marriage, either inside or outside the U.K.—orders can even be made immediately in an emergency to protect and prevent a forced marriage. Violators can be punished with up to two years in prison. The British government has worked through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (the equivalent of the U.S. State Department) and the British police, backed by legislation where appropriate, to deter and punish perpetrators and open avenues of escape for victims and potential victims of violence.
The British government has provided highly detailed guidelines to Members of Parliament and Constituent offices, as well as to civil servants, health professionals and others on how to deal with forced marriages, in a bid to raise awareness and efficiently disseminate best practices.
Highly detailed statutory guidance has been provided to department heads of relevant agencies as well as to government employees who may confront a case of forced marriage in the course of carrying out their official duties.
Netherlands
A case study for prevention is the city of Rotterdam’s school attendance monitoring system to ensure that Muslim girls are not withdrawn from school and forced into an arranged marriage during summer break. If a girl faces a looming forced marriage, the girl can, if she wants, provide a declaration to the school, and the school must legally notify police if she does not return after summer break. A forced stay abroad can be fought legally with such a declaration. Teachers are also being trained to recognize signs of possible forced marriage. As of September 2009, in Rotterdam three young women signed such a contract. The municipality of Rotterdam and the GGD maintain regular contact with these girls. As a result, the girls were not forced to marry in the summer of 2009.
Germany
German teachers are to get guidelines on handling the issue of forced marriages with their pupils, the German government announced in June 2010, following a spate of cases in recent months. The guidelines aim to give schools and teachers concrete tips for picking up on early warning signs if a student is being pushed into a forced marriage, and on talking to parents and alerting child protection services.
Sweden
The Swedish government announced in May 2010 the launch of an inquiry aimed at tightening legislation banning forced and child marriages, which it identified as a continuing problem.
United States
Estimates are that hundreds of Pakistani girls in New York have been flown out of the New York City area back to Pakistan to undergo forced marriages: those that resist are threatened and coerced.
The current U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual provides a number of recommendations on what consular personnel can do when faced with a minor who contacts them in order to prevent a looming forced marriage from taking place. It is not known how often consular officials are faced with this issue, and it is not known what advice consular personnel provides U.S. citizens abroad who are faced with this issue. It is worth researching and publicly releasing information on how often U.S. consular personnel are approached with regard to this topic and what their course of action tends to be, and how such cases are eventually resolved (or not). The “best practices” of the British Foreign Office may be worth replicating to ensure that vulnerable girls can sound the alarm if need be, so that legal authorities can intervene where necessary to help protect women from being flown out of the country to face forced marriages, and assist them abroad to return to the U.S. unharmed. From the information that is publicly available, British practices in this area seem more stringent and more “on alert” than current U.S. practices.
American courts, like British courts, should be able to offer “forced marriage protection orders” to protect girls and women who face a looming forced marriage. U.S. law enforcement officials, civil servants dealing with issues of women’s rights and education, as well as Congressional constituent Offices should receive statutory guidelines, as happens in the U.K., on what to do when a person contacts them facing a forced marriage.
At the institutional level, existing U.S. child welfare, domestic violence and human trafficking institutions are currently not equipped to protect forced marriage victims or to address their unique needs. Most domestic violence shelters will not accommodate minors, and few service providers are trained or funded to address the issue of forced marriage. In several states, child welfare officials declared that the intended child-brides were not at risk of imminent harm and sent them home, where the girls’ parents promptly severed all contact with advocates and sent the girls to the altar. These resources should be strengthened at the local level, and in dialogue with agencies at the State and Federal level dealing with domestic violence issues.
Honor violence includes the beating of a girl or a woman for refusing to comply with the family code of honor by engaging in behavior deemed by the family to be shameful such as ignoring the rules of house arrest; resisting a forced marriage; seeking a divorce; dating; dressing in western attire; wearing make-up; or simply taking non-Muslims as friends. The beatings are intended to be corrective. If the girl complies, normally punishment ceases. If not, honor violence sometimes ends in murder—such as the 2009 murder of twenty-year-old Iraqi-American Noor Almaleki in Arizona, or the 2008 honor killings of Sarah and Aminah Said in Lewisville, Texas—carried out with the knowledge and help of a number of family members and other relatives. When the corrective beatings fail to dissuade a girl/woman from complying with the wishes of her family or giving up the behavior they consider shameful, the family may conclude that the only way they can regain the 'honor' lost through the girl's 'shameful' behavior is to kill her.
The Netherlands
In a pilot project carried out by Dutch police between October 2004 and March 2006, many more incidents of honor-related crimes were uncovered (79) than had been expected when police screened cases specifically for the presence of “honor” motives and flagged such cases accordingly. The figures, deemed “shocking” by government officials, led to more training of police officers, social workers and other officials to be on the lookout for such crimes and act appropriately.
In addition, the Dutch established the inter-agency Honor-Related Violence Taskforce in 2006 to raise awareness and develop inter-agency intervention approaches. The taskforce focuses on cross-cutting issues of social prevention, protection and criminal prosecution. The Dutch government has set aside funds to help women who are (potential) victims of honor-related violence.
At the local level, Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, are pressing ahead with initiatives to curb honor-related violence. Amsterdam has made co-operation agreements with non-governmental partners regarding a speedy and adequate approach in cases of imminent honor-related violence. Authorities work actively with NGOs with the mutual goals of protecting (potential) victims and using the law to prevent escalation of honor violence to the death of innocent victims.
United States law
American authorities currently do not track cases of “honor violence”. Most law enforcement officials, educators, guidance counselors and social workers are not familiar with “honor violence” and on the circumstances that make honor-related crimes different from “ordinary” cases of domestic violence.
Just as federal officials currently track the incidence of domestic violence, they should carefully track incidents of honor-related violence. Pilot projects could be established in large metropolitan areas such as New York to screen criminal cases (including murder cases of girls and women from honor-related cultures, such as Pakistani, Afghan, Kurdish women) for “honor” related motives.
Federal offices dealing with domestic violence can become aware through research of the specific challenges facing women from Islamic and honor-based cultures, and convey this information to cities and areas where larger populations from honor-based cultures are now living.
U.S. government officials must do a much better job in selecting good outreach partners and liaisons to the American Muslim community. Right now, many Muslim outreach partners that U.S. government officials select for dialogue and liaison are religiously orthodox: these orthodox Muslims, in turn, tell U.S. government officials that secular and feminist American Muslims are not representative of the American Muslim community, leading U.S. government officials not to include them in dialogue. Moderate Muslims, secular Muslims, and feminist Muslims have thus been disempowered in the United States. The British government has made the same mistake in its choice of “representative Muslims”. Bad choices of dialogue partners ensure that issues such as honor killings, domestic violence, forced marriages and FGM are not put prominently on the agenda.
By selecting better dialogue partners and seeking their advice and input, U.S. government officials can empower moderate Muslims, secular Muslims, and feminist Muslims, giving them the voice they deserve to raise these issues in a constructive manner.
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
for the defense of Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
. It was founded by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
in 2007 and is based in New York, NY in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Originallly formed to support Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
dissidents who had suffered for their religious
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
or political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
beliefs, the organization's scope was narrowed September 2008 to focus on the women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
.
The goal of the AHA Foundation is to combat crimes against women, such as forced marriage
Forced marriage
Forced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
s, female genital mutilation, and honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...
s. It's key activities include education and outreach.
Sharia Law
BackgroundSharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, or Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic law, covers many aspects of life and is open to interpretation. The following affect women's rights:
- Women should be veilVeilA veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...
ed. Failure to do so can result in threatThreatThreat of force in public international law is a situation between states described by British lawyer Ian Brownlie as:The 1969 Vienna convention on the Law of Treaties notes in its preamble that both the threat and the use of force are prohibited...
s, fines, imprisonmentImprisonmentImprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....
, or honor violence. - Death by stoningStoningStoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
is the penalty for women's adulteryAdulteryAdultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
. - Men's testimonyTestimonyIn law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
is worth twice that of a woman. - Women are precluded from marrying non-Muslim men and her marriage contract is made between her husband and father (or guardian).
- A man may marry many times and divorceDivorceDivorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
any of his wives at will; It is extremely difficult for woman to divorce. Women lose custodyChild custodyChild custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
of their children at a specified age or when they remarryRemarriageRemarriage is a marriage that takes place after a previous marital union has ended, as through divorce or widowhood.Some individuals are more likely to remarry than others; the likelihood can differ based on previous relationship status , level of interest in establishing a new romantic...
. - Daughters inheritInheritanceInheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
half of what sons will receive.
United Kingdom
Sharia tribunals have operated in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(U.K.) since 2008 to mediate
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
and make legally binding decisions regarding inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
, marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
and divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, a type of mediation system which is also in place for Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
communities. Within the first year, there were 85 tribunal courts established. Theoretically, the Sharia tribunals should be a fair and equitable, however there is some research that they are discriminatory to women. In the U.K. their decisions are legally binding and can be enforced by country courts and high courts
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, provided both parties in a case have agreed to be ruled by Sharia law. Concern arises for women who coerced
Coercion
Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...
into entering tribunal mediation and will not be treated, nor her female witnesses, as equals. Further, there are none of the following: legal advice
Legal advice
In the common law, legal advice is the giving of a formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law by an officer of the court , ordinarily in exchange for financial or other tangible compensation...
or support, recorded proceedings, searchable judgement
Judgement
Judgment is the evaluation of evidence in the making of a decision. The term has three distinct uses:* Informal - Opinions expressed as facts....
s, process to monitor the system, right to appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
, or control of appointment of the mediating judges. Another concern is that decisions that are not congruent with European and British law have been issued by the Sharia tribunal courts.
United States
While there are no Sharia tribunal courts in the United States, there have been decisions made in state courts and more than fifty cases in state Appellate Court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
s regarding Sharia law. An example is a New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
case where, because it was considered part of his religious practices, a man was found innocent of marital rape; That case was overturned in Appellate Court.
Some Americans are particularly concerned about Sharia law becoming integrated with the United States legal system. Fearing that the United States could integration Sharia tribunals like the United Kingdom, a bill was introduced in the state of Oklahoma called "Save Our State" to ensure that legal cases are not decided based upon international law or Sharia law. The measure was approved by state voters, but a United States district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
issued a temporary restraining order preventing the law from being enacted due to a suit filed violated Muslim people's constitutional rights of religion and that the law stigmitizes Muslims. The restraining order is intended to give sufficient time to review the case before the election results are certified by the Election Board
Board of elections
A board of elections is a body of officials designated to administer elections. U.S. states often have boards of elections, as do some municipalities, such as New York City....
.
Female Genital Mutilation
BackgroundFemale genital mutilation (FGM) is the mutilation of girl's clitoris, and often the labia, usually from 3 to 13 years of age, but can be done early and as late as before marriage or pregnancy. The World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO) estimates that there are 100 to 140 million female genital mutilation victims, most from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, in the world. The procedure can result in problems urinating, severe bleeding and complications during childbirth, with no health benefits. It is usually performed for religious or cultural purposes.
United Kingdom
Building upon and replacing the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985
Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985
The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made female genital mutilation a crime throughout the UK....
, the British Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2003
Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It extended previous legislation by also making it illegal for UK nationals to perform female genital mutilation outside the borders of the UK, and increased the maximum penalty from five to 14 years.The Act...
makes it illegel to commit FGM, take girls out of the country for the procedure, and increases the penalty of imprisonment to 14 years. As of 2009, there had not been a single case of FGM prosecuted, and girls are subject to the procedure when they return with their families to their country of origin over Christmas holidays.
Netherlands
Netherlands has received a large influx of immigrants from countries that practice female genital mutilation, particularly from Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
which is known for its severe FGM practices. As a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
, Ayaan Hirsi Ali unsuccessfully campaigned to create a control system for girls from at-risk communities by requiring pediatricians and child medical professionals to screen them for FGM.
Norway
The Norwegian Action Plan to combat FGM against residents and immigrants was initiated in 2000. The present plan focuses on prevention, public awareness and required reporting of likely or completed FGM practices by public employees to the Municipal Child Welfare Service
Child Welfare Services (Norway)
The Child Welfare Service of Norway is responsible for protecting the rights and interests of children with a difficult family situation. The service seeks to ensure that children receive adequate care and to prevent them from being subjected to extreme physical and psychological stress.The...
(MCWS) department. The plan has assigned metrics to measure success, including targeted prevention activities for the holiday season and prosecution of offenders.
United States
Federal law at the moment makes FGM illegal but does not punish parents or relatives who take young girls out of the country to undergo FGM.
A case in Georgia
Georgia
Georgia has two principal meanings:* Georgia , previously known as:** Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic , part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics** Democratic Republic of Georgia...
in 2010 involved the removal of a nine-month old girl's clitoris by her mother, who faces female genital mutilation and child cruelty
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
charges, and lost custody
Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
to the baby girl's father.
A bipartisan bill introduced in 2010, the “Girls Protection Act” (H.R. 5137) sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), would make it a federal crime to transport a minor outside the United States for the purpose of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Girls Protection Act would extend current U.S. federal law to ensure that the same penalties that exist for domestic FGM apply to those involved in the transport of a minor abroad for the purpose of FGM.
Forced Marriages
BackgroundForced marriages are sometimes described as an "arranged marriage," but the difference is dependent on how much pressure is put on the girl to accept the arrangement. Resistance to this sort of marriage very often leads to severe beatings and the punishment can go as far as to lead to an "honor" killing.
United Kingdom
The British government has set up a Forced Marriage Unit and increased police awareness of forced marriages and honor-related violence. The forced marriage unit has a confidential helpline and is the UK’s ‘one-stop shop’ for leading the development of government policy on forced marriage, coordinating outreach projects and providing support and information to those at risk.
Forced marriage protection orders, made possible under British law, offer help to people who face the prospect of being forced into marriage, either inside or outside the U.K.—orders can even be made immediately in an emergency to protect and prevent a forced marriage. Violators can be punished with up to two years in prison. The British government has worked through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (the equivalent of the U.S. State Department) and the British police, backed by legislation where appropriate, to deter and punish perpetrators and open avenues of escape for victims and potential victims of violence.
The British government has provided highly detailed guidelines to Members of Parliament and Constituent offices, as well as to civil servants, health professionals and others on how to deal with forced marriages, in a bid to raise awareness and efficiently disseminate best practices.
Highly detailed statutory guidance has been provided to department heads of relevant agencies as well as to government employees who may confront a case of forced marriage in the course of carrying out their official duties.
Netherlands
A case study for prevention is the city of Rotterdam’s school attendance monitoring system to ensure that Muslim girls are not withdrawn from school and forced into an arranged marriage during summer break. If a girl faces a looming forced marriage, the girl can, if she wants, provide a declaration to the school, and the school must legally notify police if she does not return after summer break. A forced stay abroad can be fought legally with such a declaration. Teachers are also being trained to recognize signs of possible forced marriage. As of September 2009, in Rotterdam three young women signed such a contract. The municipality of Rotterdam and the GGD maintain regular contact with these girls. As a result, the girls were not forced to marry in the summer of 2009.
Germany
German teachers are to get guidelines on handling the issue of forced marriages with their pupils, the German government announced in June 2010, following a spate of cases in recent months. The guidelines aim to give schools and teachers concrete tips for picking up on early warning signs if a student is being pushed into a forced marriage, and on talking to parents and alerting child protection services.
Sweden
The Swedish government announced in May 2010 the launch of an inquiry aimed at tightening legislation banning forced and child marriages, which it identified as a continuing problem.
United States
Estimates are that hundreds of Pakistani girls in New York have been flown out of the New York City area back to Pakistan to undergo forced marriages: those that resist are threatened and coerced.
The current U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual provides a number of recommendations on what consular personnel can do when faced with a minor who contacts them in order to prevent a looming forced marriage from taking place. It is not known how often consular officials are faced with this issue, and it is not known what advice consular personnel provides U.S. citizens abroad who are faced with this issue. It is worth researching and publicly releasing information on how often U.S. consular personnel are approached with regard to this topic and what their course of action tends to be, and how such cases are eventually resolved (or not). The “best practices” of the British Foreign Office may be worth replicating to ensure that vulnerable girls can sound the alarm if need be, so that legal authorities can intervene where necessary to help protect women from being flown out of the country to face forced marriages, and assist them abroad to return to the U.S. unharmed. From the information that is publicly available, British practices in this area seem more stringent and more “on alert” than current U.S. practices.
American courts, like British courts, should be able to offer “forced marriage protection orders” to protect girls and women who face a looming forced marriage. U.S. law enforcement officials, civil servants dealing with issues of women’s rights and education, as well as Congressional constituent Offices should receive statutory guidelines, as happens in the U.K., on what to do when a person contacts them facing a forced marriage.
At the institutional level, existing U.S. child welfare, domestic violence and human trafficking institutions are currently not equipped to protect forced marriage victims or to address their unique needs. Most domestic violence shelters will not accommodate minors, and few service providers are trained or funded to address the issue of forced marriage. In several states, child welfare officials declared that the intended child-brides were not at risk of imminent harm and sent them home, where the girls’ parents promptly severed all contact with advocates and sent the girls to the altar. These resources should be strengthened at the local level, and in dialogue with agencies at the State and Federal level dealing with domestic violence issues.
Honor Violence and Killings
BackgroundHonor violence includes the beating of a girl or a woman for refusing to comply with the family code of honor by engaging in behavior deemed by the family to be shameful such as ignoring the rules of house arrest; resisting a forced marriage; seeking a divorce; dating; dressing in western attire; wearing make-up; or simply taking non-Muslims as friends. The beatings are intended to be corrective. If the girl complies, normally punishment ceases. If not, honor violence sometimes ends in murder—such as the 2009 murder of twenty-year-old Iraqi-American Noor Almaleki in Arizona, or the 2008 honor killings of Sarah and Aminah Said in Lewisville, Texas—carried out with the knowledge and help of a number of family members and other relatives. When the corrective beatings fail to dissuade a girl/woman from complying with the wishes of her family or giving up the behavior they consider shameful, the family may conclude that the only way they can regain the 'honor' lost through the girl's 'shameful' behavior is to kill her.
The Netherlands
In a pilot project carried out by Dutch police between October 2004 and March 2006, many more incidents of honor-related crimes were uncovered (79) than had been expected when police screened cases specifically for the presence of “honor” motives and flagged such cases accordingly. The figures, deemed “shocking” by government officials, led to more training of police officers, social workers and other officials to be on the lookout for such crimes and act appropriately.
In addition, the Dutch established the inter-agency Honor-Related Violence Taskforce in 2006 to raise awareness and develop inter-agency intervention approaches. The taskforce focuses on cross-cutting issues of social prevention, protection and criminal prosecution. The Dutch government has set aside funds to help women who are (potential) victims of honor-related violence.
At the local level, Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam, are pressing ahead with initiatives to curb honor-related violence. Amsterdam has made co-operation agreements with non-governmental partners regarding a speedy and adequate approach in cases of imminent honor-related violence. Authorities work actively with NGOs with the mutual goals of protecting (potential) victims and using the law to prevent escalation of honor violence to the death of innocent victims.
United States law
American authorities currently do not track cases of “honor violence”. Most law enforcement officials, educators, guidance counselors and social workers are not familiar with “honor violence” and on the circumstances that make honor-related crimes different from “ordinary” cases of domestic violence.
Just as federal officials currently track the incidence of domestic violence, they should carefully track incidents of honor-related violence. Pilot projects could be established in large metropolitan areas such as New York to screen criminal cases (including murder cases of girls and women from honor-related cultures, such as Pakistani, Afghan, Kurdish women) for “honor” related motives.
Federal offices dealing with domestic violence can become aware through research of the specific challenges facing women from Islamic and honor-based cultures, and convey this information to cities and areas where larger populations from honor-based cultures are now living.
U.S. government officials must do a much better job in selecting good outreach partners and liaisons to the American Muslim community. Right now, many Muslim outreach partners that U.S. government officials select for dialogue and liaison are religiously orthodox: these orthodox Muslims, in turn, tell U.S. government officials that secular and feminist American Muslims are not representative of the American Muslim community, leading U.S. government officials not to include them in dialogue. Moderate Muslims, secular Muslims, and feminist Muslims have thus been disempowered in the United States. The British government has made the same mistake in its choice of “representative Muslims”. Bad choices of dialogue partners ensure that issues such as honor killings, domestic violence, forced marriages and FGM are not put prominently on the agenda.
By selecting better dialogue partners and seeking their advice and input, U.S. government officials can empower moderate Muslims, secular Muslims, and feminist Muslims, giving them the voice they deserve to raise these issues in a constructive manner.