Girl could risk genital mutilation

Mom fearful. Bids to stave off deportation order

JASMIN LEGATOS, The Gazette

Published: Wednesday, June 06, 2007

At 19, Oumou Toure's stepmother pulled her out of school, tried to marry her off to a much older man and "traumatized" the young woman by subjecting her to female circumcision.

Oumou Toure, mother of 2-year-old Fanta, is comforted by a social worker (left) as she listens from a distance to a press conference at St. James United Church yesterday. Toure is worried her daughter could be subjected to female circumcision if she and her children are deported to Guinea.

ALLEN MCINNIS, THE GAZETTE

Toure, now 24, fled her native Guinea and came to Canada in 2003, using falsified documents. She is slated for deportation in the first week of July, barring an intervention from federal Immigration Minister Diane Finley.

Toure's psychologist, Sylvie Laurion, says her patient is scared.

If Toure returns to the West African country, there is a serious risk her 21/2-year old Canadian-born daughter, Fanta, could share her mother's fate, says her lawyer, Rick Goldman.

According to statistics from UNICEF and the U.S. State Department, as many as 99 per cent of Guinean women have been subjected to genital mutilation.

Although the practice is illegal in that country, Human Rights Watch confirms that Guinea is not among the countries where mutilation crimes have been prosecuted. And a 2004 report from the International Society for Human Rights says the practice is often carried out despite parents' objections.

Female genital mutilation, or circumcision, is a cultural and religious practice in which all or part of the external female genitalia is removed. Complications from the procedure range from severe pain and bleeding to infections causing death.

As Toure stood at the back of the meeting room at the St. James United Church yesterday, while a panel of human rights activists pleaded her case to the media, the worry in her eyes was palpable.

If appeals to Finley by groups fighting on behalf of Toure go unanswered, Toure faces an impossible situation, Goldman says.

She must either leave Fanta and her 9-month old brother in Canada or risk Fanta's health by bringing her back to Guinea, he added. The fathers of Toure's children are not in the picture, Laurion says.

Toure first applied for refugee status in 2004, but the Immigration and Refugee Board rejected her claim two weeks before she gave birth to Fanta.

Toure then applied for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds but failed to provide enough documentary evidence of the risk to her daughter; her application was rejected in August 2006.

Working with the Montreal-based Committee to Aid Refugees, Toure submitted a second application to stay in Canada, which is now in the hands of the Montreal office of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Goldman says.

However, immigration officials refuse to accelerate her dossier despite Toure's looming deportation deadline.

Toure's situation is not unique and there is precedent for allowing her to stay in Canada, Goldman said.

According to Amnesty International, an Alberta woman from Tanzania and her family were granted permanent residency based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds last fall when she argued her family could face persecution back home because they opposed mutilation.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=714caa78-a128-4dab-bd5d-b1cb524634e4

Photo Essay: Racisme, Islamophobie et Securite Nationale

Spies, media, corporations and politically-constructed public debates ... In the name of "national security", many forces in our society are helping to mobilize underlying racism and Islamophobia against Muslims, Arabs and others. The result is often devastating on people's lives.

Targetted communities are marginalized and unable to participate fully in political, economic or social life. When extreme measures such as security certificates are used against individuals, communities are often too intimidated, alienated or constrained to respond effectively.

On Saturday, 26 May the teach-in, organized by the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui, brought together community members, academics, NGOs, legal experts and activists in order to develop effective strategies to resist racial profiling and defend the liberty and dignity of all.

To view photo essay:
http://photos.cmaq.net/v/Racisme_Islamophobie_et_securite_national/

Video: No One Is Illegal Toronto

NOII-Toronto May 5th videos featuring footage from the May 5th National Day of Action for Status for All and performances from the community fair:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3rnfmSDjgA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rwQ-FMR9ic

Imams to give citizenship lessons

Mosques are being urged to provide citizenship lessons for the thousands of youngsters they see daily.

About 100,000 UK youngsters attend Islamic religious schools attached to mosques - madrasas - every day.

A new curriculum aims to tackle extremism and counter messages about perceived clashes between Islam and British culture.

It was drawn up by a group of mosques in Bradford and is being backed by the Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly.

Thousands of Muslim children attend madrasas after school

It comes after an independent study into radicalism in local communities by academics at Durham University suggested a "step change" in traditional religious leadership was needed to tackle radicalism.

We very much hope that teachers in mosques, madrasas and schools will use the resource pack as a teaching aid Bradford Council for Mosques

Ms Kelly said: "We cannot afford to allow our young people to be intimidated and influenced by extremist messages.

"Madrasas have a pivotal role to play in winning hearts and minds and supporting young people to reject the messages of extremist groups.

"This project ensures that young Muslim students learn the true teachings of Islam and encourages them to play an active role in their local communities and as citizens.

"I would like to see citizenship on the curriculum of madrasas up and down the country, as this kind of grassroots action is key to facing down extremist messages."

Ms Kelly's department is working with Department for Education and Skills officials and representatives of supplementary schools to try to ensure good practice across the sector.

Teaching aid

Although state-funded Muslim schools study citizenship as part of the national curriculum, madrasas are fully independent and ministers have no jurisdiction over what they teach.

Muslim children might attend a madrasa in the evenings after their normal school day or at the weekend.

The citizenship course itself, created by the Bradford Council for Mosques (BCFM) and known as the Nasiha project, aims to show that the spirit and teachings of the Koran are rooted in respect and tolerance.

It has been developed to promote community cohesion and help small communities be resilient to the small minority of extremists who promote violence and hate in the name of Islam.

Democracy

The council said aspects of citizenship are already an integral part of teaching programmes in many mosques and madrasas in Bradford.

BCFM spokesman Sher Azam said Muslims wanted their children to be recognised as hard-working, active and proud people who cherished others.

He added: "We very much hope that teachers in mosques, madrasas and schools will use the resource pack as a teaching aid.

"Now that the document is in the public domain we will welcome feedback from practitioners and others in order to further develop and improve its contents."

The government says the course will teach students to value human life and reject violence as well as giving them practical skills to help them reject any extremism that may come their way.

It will encourage students to play an active part in local life through volunteering and community work and underline the importance of voting and taking part in the democratic process.

Imams and teachers will be provided with lesson plans designed to promote discussion and dialogue.

The government says five madrasas and one school in Bradford have already adopted the programme and 10 imams in the city have undergone training to teach citizenship.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6665317.stm

Woman seeks refugee status to protect daughter from genital mutilation in

INGRID PERITZ
Globe and Mail
Tuesday, June 5, 2007

MONTREAL - Oumou Touré is 24 and will never forget the genital mutilation she underwent in her African homeland. All she wishes for is that her own Canadian-born daughter be spared.

But the soft-spoken Montreal woman now fears that very threat.

Several humanitarian and children's rights associations have stepped forward to try to block Ms. Touré's imminent deportation, which they say will expose her two-year-old daughter, Fanta, to near-certain mutilation, too.

The groups are publicly calling on Immigration Minister Diane Finley today to suspend deportation measures against Ms. Touré, arguing it would make Canada complicit in what it portrays as an act of barbarity against women.

"We believe the future of the family - in particular this little girl - is in your hands," Heather Macdonald of the United Church of Canada wrote in a letter to Ms. Finley.

The groups say letters of appeal to Ms. Finley have gone unanswered as the clock ticks down to Ms. Touré's removal, scheduled for early next month.

She would be returned to the West African nation of Guinea, where rates of female genital mutilation have been documented at 96 to 99 per cent. In general, the ritual is performed on girls as young as infants, as well as female children and adolescents.

"This is probably the clearest case possible of how persecution will befall someone - an innocent child born in Canada - if they're removed from the country," said Rick Goldman, a lawyer speaking for the Montreal-based Committee to Aid Refugees.

Ms. Touré also faces a dilemma. Because the deportation order is against her, not her daughter, she has the choice of leaving Fanta behind in Canada. But Ms. Touré has no family and is estranged from the child's father.

"It's putting her in an impossible situation," Mr. Goldman said yesterday. "Either she brings her daughter to Guinea and almost certainly risks female mutilation, or leaves her in foster care here in Canada."

The Immigration and Refugee Board has granted refugee status in the past to Guinean mothers on the basis of the risk to their daughters. The board has called genital mutilation a "discriminatory, dangerous" practice in Guinea.

But when Ms. Touré's case was heard in 2004, her daughter wasn't born yet. Her refugee claim was rejected, and the Canadian toddler's welfare was never taken into account.

Ms. Touré is now awaiting an answer on an application on humanitarian and compassionate grounds - her second such application - but Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials won't accelerate her case despite the looming deportation.

Ms. Touré's case and her approaching deadline has rallied various groups, among them Amnesty International, the Quebec Federation of Women and the Montreal-based International Bureau for Children's Rights.

"This child is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Canada has made a commitment to protect children, and this is a very concrete example where it can act to do so," said Catherine Gauvreau of the children's rights bureau. "[Genital mutilation] is a physical violation that will leave an impact on the girl's health, both physically and mentally, her whole life."

Female genital mutilation, often referred to as "female circumcision," is the term applied to cultural practices that involve the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs. Initial complications range from severe pain and hemorrhage to infections causing death.

Ms. Touré, who also has an infant son, says she cannot stop crying at the thought of her daughter undergoing the procedure. "It hurts me when I think of my daughter going through the same thing I did. And I don't want to be separated from her."

Ms. Finley said through a spokesman that it would be inappropriate to comment on Ms. Touré's case, but added, "I can say that everyone ordered to be removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/freeheadlines/LAC/20070605/DEPORT05/national/National