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27,697 reports · page 2664 of 2770
This technical brief provides an overview of regional trends in child labour elimination, progress toward global commitments, policy responses, and persistent gaps across sectors.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been a worldwide and severely rooted custom despite numerous global initiatives to eradicate it. This paper explores the cultural, historical, and societal factors of FGM, emphasizing its catastrophic consequences on the physical, mental, and reproductive well-being of women and girls. The practice not only restricts bodily autonomy but also violates fundamental human rights, intensifying gender-based discrimination. Due to socio-cultural hindrances, a lack of a legal framework, and weak execution, the diverse international and national mechanisms that challenge the practice remain ineffective. The deeply rooted social structures, patriarchal norms, and misconceptions relating to culture and morality lead to the continuance of this heinous practice. Government, medical professionals, religious leaders, civil society organisations, etc., can combine to work as a multidimensional strategy through legal reforms, improved healthcare systems, and grassroots-level awareness campaigns to address this issue. A strengthened legal framework promoting international cooperation and survivor support can make a progressive step towards the elimination of FGM. Efforts must focus on changing societal mindsets rather than relying solely on severe punishments to eliminate these harmful practices at their core. This paper emphasizes a human rights-based approach that advocates for gender equality and drives societal change. It ensures that women and girls can live with dignity, independence, and protection from harm and discrimination.
Shehnaz Begum, Gitanjali Ghosh
As the final decade of acceleration towards zero new cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM, SDG Target 5.3) by 2030 has begun, increasing the rigour, relevance, and utility of research for programming, policy development and resource allocation is critical. This study aimed to synthesize and assess the quality and strength of existing evidence on interventions designed to prevent or respond to FGM between 2008 and 2020.The study drew on a Rapid Evidence Assessment of the available literature on FGM interventions. The quality of studies was assessed using the ‘How to Note: Assessing the Strength of Evidence’ guidelines published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and strength of evidence using a modified Gray scale developed by the What Works Association. Of the 7698 records retrieved, 115 studies met the inclusion criteria. Of the 115 studies, 106 were of high and moderate quality and were included in the final analysis. This review shows that at the system level, legislation-related interventions must be multifaceted to be effective. Whilst all levels would benefit from more research, for the service level especially more research is needed into how the health system can effectively prevent and respond to FGM. Community-level interventions are effective for changing attitudes towards FGM, but more must be done to innovate with these interventions so that they move beyond affecting attitudes alone to creating behaviour change. At the individual level, formal education is effective in reducing FGM prevalence among girls. However, the returns of formal education in ending FGM may take many years to be realized. Interventions targeting intermediate outcomes, such as improvement in knowledge and change in attitudes and beliefs towards FGM, are equally needed at the individual level.
Dennis Juma Matanda, Nina Van Eekert, Melanie Croce-Galis et al.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a general health concern. The World Health Organization has recognized it as a condition that endangers women’s health. This review study aimed to identify the types of health outcomes of FGM. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to create a critical view of the current evidence on the effect of circumcision on girls and women's health. In this study, we focused on the health risks of female circumcision. Academic databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, SID, IranMedex, Irandoc, and Magiran were searched with regard to the health consequences of FGM from January 1990 until 2018. Eleven review studies met the criteria and contained 288 relevant studies on the risks of FGM. It was suggested that FGM had various physical, obstetric, sexual, and psychological consequences. Women with FGM experienced mental disturbances (e.g., psychiatric diagnoses, anxiety, somatization, phobia, and low self-esteem) than other women. Our study can provide evidence on improving, changing behaviors, and making decisions on the quality of services offered to women suffering from FGM. [GMJ.2019;inpress:e1336]
Khadijeh Sarayloo, Robab Latifnejad Roudsari, Amy Elhadi
A comprehensive study was undertaken to investigate, explore and analyse the existence of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM or FGM/C) in Iran. The timespan of this study began in 2005 and ended in 2014. The aim of this study was to provide in-depth data on FGM in Iran and, at the same time, provide the building blocks for a comprehensive programme to combat FGM in Iran and bring this issue onto the world’s agenda. The methodological approach adopted by this study was primarily participatory, due to the sensitivity of the subject matter. Most parts of this research were completed by the end of 2014, and much has been achieved over a decade of studying the subject of FGM in Iran.The study included travelling thousands of kilometers and interviewing over 3,000 women and 1,000 men from various areas and social classes, including key role players, community leaders, clerics and religious leaders in order to compile comprehensive data about the practice of FGM in Iran. The findings demonstrate that FGM in some locations is widespread among women and girls (around 60% in some villages of Qeshm Island in the southern province of Hurmozgan, especially in the villages of the four provinces in the north-west, west and south of Iran). FGM was not, however, practised in the northern parts of West Azerbaijan, where people are Turkish Azeri and Kurmanji Kurdish speakers, nor in the southern parts of Kermanshah and northern parts of Hormozgan.This research study, along with a short documentary film, has gained global recognition and was launched by The Guardian and the BBC on 4 June 2015 through their websites. Shortly thereafter it was discussed at a United Nations meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, on 19 June 2015 at a session on eliminating FGM. Reuters also published an analysis of the research and considered it one of the rare contributions in the history of Iran.
Kameel AHMADY
Abstract As the criminalisation of FGM has failed to prevent FGM, family law remedies have been used to protect children from the practice. This chapter explores the development of jurisprudence in family law. In particular, it explores care proceedings which involves the interference of the state in the family’s private and family life to protect a girl at risk of FGM and it examines the introduction of female genital mutilation protection orders (FGMPOs) in 2015 which are used to prevent an at-risk girl from being subject to FGM. This chapter reviews a number of published family law judgments concerning FGM, which shows many key themes including how the risk of FGM is assessed, travel restrictions imposed, and the necessity of medical examinations. It also examines the difference in the protection that is offered to a British girl at risk of FGM in contrast to a girl who does not have secure immigration status. The chapter suggests that the current application of the law is discriminatory, as girls without secure immigration status are often afforded less, or second-rate protection from FGM than British children.
Charlotte Proudman
AbstractThis study focuses on Switzerland where child-care is limited in offer and costly. It examines what child-care patterns parents of 0- to 4-years old children use; and, how different arrangements relate to several domains of mothers’ and fathers’ cognitive and affective subjective well-being (SWB). A major contribution of the present study is the distinction between child-care provided by parents, grandparents, relatives, formal institutions and mixed arrangements. Based on data from the Swiss Household Panel (SHP) from 2002 to 2017, multilevel regression models are applied to estimate the relationship between child-care arrangements and both parents’ SWB. The results demonstrate that grandparental care relates positively to both parents’ SWB: Compared to grandparental child-care, relatives and formal or mixed child-care arrangements tend to decrease most of the satisfaction dimensions. Formal child-care and child-care provided by relatives as well as mixed arrangements relate to a decrease in positive affect. Negative affect is not significantly associated to the different child-care arrangements.
Valérie-Anne Ryser, Marieke Heers
Introduction: Pregnancy is often a socially significant period that invites deeper exploration and interpretation. Among the Batak Toba ethnic group, the mambosuri ritual remains a living tradition practiced to this day. In this ritual, the biological family of a pregnant woman visits her during the seventh month of pregnancy or approaching childbirth. Visually, this practice involves bringing foods preferred by the pregnant woman, feeding her, and offering prayers and hopes for the safety and health of both mother and child. However, the ritual does not merely exist as an isolated act. Objectives: This short report examines the practice of mambosuri, its role for social agents particularly pregnant women and explores the meanings underlying this tradition. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews regarding this tradition with pregnant women, mothers who have practiced the ritual, healthcare workers, and community leaders. The study was carried out in rural Tapanuli, where the tradition continues to be consistently practiced. Data were analyzed thematically and presented in a simplified narrative form as a short report. Results: The findings indicate that the mambosuri ritual generates positive impacts across multiple dimensions. Familial relationships are maintained, the division of roles becomes visible, and relational bonds are continuously nurtured. In addition, pregnant women experience social support that provides strength, motivation, hope, and encouragement. Beneath these visible aspects lies a social system that sustains its identity despite ongoing social, economic, mobility, and technological changes. Mambosuri functions as a defensive mechanism that preserves and reproduces the system itself. Conclusions: This short report demonstrates that the mambosuri tradition extends beyond its observable practices. The social system of the Batak Toba continuously sustains itself, preserving its identity while transcending ongoing changes.
Yohana C Hasibuan, Pebi Yanti Marpaung, Muhammad Ikhwanul Ihsan et al.
The field of genetic engineering has witnessed a tremendous growth in the contemporary era in which genetic modifications have yielded desired outcomes. Particularly, genetic determinism has played a vital role in comprehending the present-day evolving identities that are formed, contested and altered in this technology-driven world. Hence, this research paper postulates adolescence through the construct of genetic determinism in The Darkness Rising Trilogy by Kelley Armstrong. Present-day adolescent novels not only address complex issues such as identity formation, defiance, climate change, Artificial intelligence, surveillance and genetic modifications but also analyze young adults’ identity as a socially and culturally constructed entity. This paper adopts a close textual reading to analyze the construction of identities of the young adults whose latent genes are kindled to resurrect their extinct supernatural powers through the lens of Foucault’s concept of ‘Biopower’ and posthumanism. Further, the study contends that Armstrong’s trilogy reconstitutes adolescence not just as identity reconfiguration or sociocultural migration but as a genetically mediated process constituted by genetic manipulation, twenty-four-hour surveillance and institutional hegemony. Thus, the study restructures adolescence as a locus of contestation where genetic modification, power, and identity intersect in multifaceted and transformative ways.
Lakshmi Rangasamy, Tamilmani K T, Anandhan Hariharasudan et al.
Growing up in a nurturing environment is one of children's fundamental rights. For maltreated youth, both foster care and adoption are alternative care measures that may give them something they haven't had the chance to experience previously: secure and protective family care. However, as a temporary measure, abrupt transitions from foster care families to adoptive ones may feel disruptive to children and families alike. We propose to understand how transitions are perceived and experienced by everyone involved, under the Family-to-Family program, a practice model developed to assure the quality of the transitions, marking them as continuities instead of disruptions of caregiving. This project will integrate quantitative and qualitative methods within a participatory approach, and it is our expectation that findings will provide empirical support to the Family to Family program implementation and, more broadly to an evolved understanding of these transition processes, ensuring that every child’s journey into adoption is as supportive and seamless as possible.
Mariana Pinto
