“Bodily harm is against the fundamental rights of all children, and we can’t understand when a so-called civilized country such as Germany would allow its male babies to be so readily mutilated legally!" said Nadine Gary, spokesperson for Clitoraid. She was referring to male circumcision, typically performed on male infants who have no say in the matter.

Clitoraid (clitoraid.org) is the international, non-profit organization founded by Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement (rael.org), to end Female Genital Mutilation by offering free clitoral repair surgery to victims of this barbaric act. Now the organization is urging a worldwide end to genital mutilation of male children as well.

“On Nov. 28, the United Nations passed a resolution that condemns all cultural and religious arguments in favor of FGM because the act constitutes a gross violates of children rights,” Gary said. “But how can the U.N. ban Female Genital Mutilation and not denounce Male Genital Mutilation as well? Is it exempting certain religions from respecting the fundamental right of baby boys?”

Gary said that according to the World Health Organization, 30 percent of males worldwide are circumcised.

“This means billions of people have been mutilated without their consent,” Gary said.

Brigitte Boisselier, Ph.D., head of Clitoraid, affirmed that mutilation of any baby or child in the name of a god is unacceptable.

“It’s been done for centuries under the pretense that a god requested it, but no religion should be allowed to harm infants or children who can’t give informed consent,” she said. “We’re setting up a hospital in Africa that’s due to open next year, where female victims can go to have genital repair surgery for free. “And, thanks to Clitoraid, thousands more can find relief at several clinics in North America. But we’ve also been getting e-mail from hundreds of circumcised men who want to have their own mutilation undone. They need help too! So, as Rael has repeatedly stated, it’s urgent to have all the old scriptures reviewed by an independent committee on human rights so that all religious group practices are in agreement with the Declaration of Human Rights.”

On Nov. 29, at the San Mateo Surgery Center in California, Dr. Marci Bowers, M.D., head surgeon for Clitoraid, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of the brutal tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM), restored the clitoris of four victims, one of whom came all the way from West Africa to have the surgery.

Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s head of operations, said the other three women who had the procedure performed by Bowers are African immigrants who live in the United States.

“Each of these four women was desperately seeking to recover her womanhood, and was able to do so thanks to the clitoral repair surgery offered by Clitoraid through the generous services of Dr. Bowers and other volunteer surgeons,” Gary said.

She explained that the barbaric act of FGM, also know euphemistically as “female circumcision,” destroys much or all of the exposed clitoris and surrounding tissue but leaves some of the root structure intact, thus making surgical restoration possible for those fortunate enough to undergo the procedure.

“Since 2008, Clitoraid has operated on close to 50 FGM patients,” Gary said. “Our volunteer surgeons use the technique of Dr. Pierre Foldes of France, who pioneered this restorative procedure.”

Gary pointed out that in the United States alone, 300,000 women currently suffer from FGM effects, according to the World Health Organization.

“Worldwide, there are more than 150 million victims who were forcibly deprived in childhood of their sense of pleasure,” she said. “In fact, it’s estimated that somewhere in the world, one little girl is being genitally mutilated every six minutes under the most atrocious conditions imaginable. And about 10 percent of these victims will die from the bleeding or subsequent infections.”

Gary said the four women who came to San Francisco for last week’s procedure were lucky enough to survive FGM.

“Nevertheless, each was deeply affected by traumatic childhood memories of that excruciatingly painful and frightening experience,” she said. “One of these patients, a lovely 30-year-old woman who has never even dated, burst into tears when Dr. Bowers lifted the paper sheet that covered her bare legs during a gynecological exam. She had dreaded that OBGYN appointment because she was that ashamed to show a doctor a body part she perceived as repulsive.”

According to Gary, one of Clitoraid’s primary missions is to help FGM victims by building a hospital in Burkina Faso, West Africa, exclusively for the performance of the restorative procedure.

“It’s set to open its doors in 2013,” Gary said. “The facility will offer free surgical treatment to all FGM victims who want the procedure performed, and we can do this thanks to the volunteer services of doctors from around the world.”

She said the four patients in San Francisco are doing well post-surgically.

“They are gently recuperating from the procedure, and changes can already be seen,”
Gary said. The woman who had a strong emotional outburst in Dr. Bowers’ clinic was elated by the results of the surgery. Her voice now expresses such great joy, as if a 24-year curse has been lifted from her body and mind. She feels she can love herself now and also begin to forgive her mother, who ordered her circumcision.”

Gary said self-hatred and deep anger are two common emotions among FGM victims and that the restorative surgery greatly helps dissipate both.

“It helps them finally turn the page into greater health and consciousness,” she said."And Clitoraid is helping more and more victims do just that. In the United States, new surgeries will take place in San Mateo, California, and in Oswego, New York, in January thanks to the generosity of Dr. Bowers and Dr. Harold Henning. And late next year, both surgeons will travel to West Africa for the inauguration of our hospital, where over 400 FGM victims are patiently awaiting a new beginning in their lives as women.”

A U.S.-based, nonprofit organization’s fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) enters a new and expanded phase today, according to a statement released this morning by Clitoraid (www.clitoraid.org).
The organization was launched by Rael, who founded the International Raelian Movement (www.rael.org) nearly 40 years ago and still serves as its spiritual leader.

“FGM is extremely prevalent in many African countries and there are an estimated 130 million FGM victims living today worldwide,” said Nadine Gary, Clitoraid’s head of operations. “About 228,000 of them live in the United States, and we’re happy to announce that our head surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers, is not only performing restorative clitoral surgery on four such victims today in San Francisco, but is also training other doctors to perform the procedure developed by French surgeon Dr. Pierre Foldes.”

Gary said Dr. Harold J. Henning, M.D., of Fulton, New York, is assisting Dr. Bowers in today’s surgeries and will complete his training at this time.

“Although these surgeries are taking place in the United States, Clitoraid’s focus is on the millions of African victims, since the vast majority of them can’t afford the procedure,” Gary said. “That’s why our fundraising emphasis is on opening our new dedicated clinic in Burkina Faso, West Africa, as soon as possible. Hundreds of victims are already on our waiting list to have the procedure performed there free of charge by our volunteers.”

Dr. Henning, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who is also a member of the Raelian Movement, is among those volunteers. He has been in private practice since 1986, and currently lives and practices in the small city of Fulton, New York, near the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Born in Kansas, he completed his medical training in that state and later earned a Ph.D. in reproductive physiology.
“I’ve been doing gynecologic surgery for about 30 years and did obstetrics for 20 of those years,” Henning said in a recent interview. “My experience is working with women and women’s issues.”

With the completion of his training under Dr. Bowers today, he will be ready to perform the restorative surgery at Clitoraid’s new facility in Burkina Faso, unofficially dubbed ‘The Pleasure Hospital’ by volunteers. Henning plans to attend the opening later this year and is donating equipment to the project.

Asked what steps need to be taken to reduce the prevalence of FGM and assist more victims, Henning stressed the importance of community awareness, both here and in Africa. He said that while he was previously aware of FGM, he had never seen an FGM victim while practicing medicine in the American Midwest.

“But many FGM victims here in the United States, including some on the East Coast, want to have their sense of pleasure restored, so I’ve made plans to do this for them in Upstate New York,” he said, adding that he had learned of these patients after they contacted Clitoraid.

“Restoring the sexual pleasure that has been taken away from such victims is the beauty of what we’re doing, and I look forward to helping them by doing the corrective surgery,” he said. “After joining the Raelian Movement, my eyes were opened to issues that plague women throughout the world, not just in my local community.”

Gary said Henning’s new contribution on the East Coast of the United States is important to Clitoraid’s efforts, since Bowers covers the West Coast.

On Friday, 25th November people around the world will support UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s ‘UNiTE to End Violence against Women’ campaign, but each and every year another three million young girls have their sexual organs cut out by the horrific tribal practice known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Since 2007 Clitoraid, the international charity dedicated to opposing FGM, has supported this important day. This year volunteers will be organizing events around the world, mostly on Friday, 25th November, to oppose FGM and promote the possibility of victims having surgery to repair their Clitoris.

“The ‘right of the body’ should be written into the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” declared Dr Brigitte Boisselier, President of Clitoraid. "We support the proposal by other international organizations that if all human beings are born free and equal then above all they must have an inalienable ‘right of the body’, meaning that the integrity, dignity and autonomy of their bodies should not be violated against their will. Obviously, performing FGM on innocent young girls is totally contrary to all human rights.”

Traditional midwives, mothers and female relatives perform this brutal mutilation on girls from infancy to their mid-teens because of ancient superstitions that date back thousands of years to the Egypt of the pharos. Even though it is illegal in most countries, and is opposed by all major religions, the practice continues. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports, ‘some 100 to 140 million women and girls worldwide are living with the consequences of FGM.’ About 92 million of these live in Africa, but with increased immigration in recent years this practice has now spread to the west.

Clitoraid is an international charity founded in 2006 by Raël, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement to not only speak out against FGM, but also to overcome the practice in a more practical way – by allowing women to choose to have inexpensive surgery that (as much as is possible in each case) repairs the mutilations, restores physical pleasure and makes complications in childbirth less likely.

Boisselier continues, “Dr. Pierre Foldès, a French surgeon of Hungarian origin, developed this surgical procedure, commonly known as FGM Reversal, 25 years ago. He then taught it to US surgeon Dr Marcie Bowers, and between them they have now trained more doctors. Together these remarkable surgeons are, thanks to science, able to help FGM victims to recover their dignity and pleasure.”

Since 2007 Clitoraid has assisted twenty-eight women from across Africa to have operations, many of these now live in first world countries such as Australia, Austria, Canada, Japan, the UK, the USA and Switzerland. There are a further twenty-four on the waitinglist in the USA, but over 300 who have requested the surgery still live in West Africa, and for them the cost is insurmountable.

Even though the doctors volunteer their time it costs $1700 for a typical FGM Reversal procedure in the United States, and similar amounts in other western countries (although, in France, the typical cost of 3000 Euros is covered through social security). Clitoraid has responded to this challenge by raising over US$125,000 to construct a small surgical hospital dedicated to FGM reversal near the town of Bobo Dioulasso in the central West African country of Burkina Faso. Komkasso Hospital, meaning ‘the women’s house’ is nearing completion and, if funding can continue to be raised, should open in 2012.

Currently, in Burkina Faso, the operation costs about US$500 (around 350 Euros), which is an insurmountable sum for most people in West Africa, but the Komkasso Hospital hopes to offer the procedure for free, or at least at a minimal cost. However, the completion of the hospital and the actual cost will depend upon the generosity of the donors around the world. As the head of Clitoraid, Brigitte Bosselier, explains “It doesn’t matter whether people contribute ten dollars or a million, what counts is their determination, according to their means, to help these women and to end this barbaric practice and to allow these cruelly treated women to experience the pleasures that should always have been theirs.”

Clitoraid will be organizing events around the world prior to and on Friday, 25th November, to oppose FGM, rape, wife beating and all other forms of violence against women. In:

• Australia stand and fundraising during Melbourne Sexpo (nov. 24th to 27th)
  
• Canada “silent marches” will be held in Montréal, Québec, Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto.
  
• France street actions to inform about the cause will be held in Bordeaux, Nice, Colmar, Remiront
  
• Holland stand and fundraising during the Erotic fair in Hesselt (nov. 19th and 20th)
  
• Italy fundraising event in shopping centers will be held in Rimini
  
• Japan informing actions about the cause will be held on internet
  
• Korea informing actions about the cause will be held on internet
  
• Switzerland fundraising event will be held in Sierre (nov. 21st)
  

Actions will also take place in USA and Israel.

Donations may be made through http://clitoraid.org/donate, and both cash and in kind donations of suitable equipment and supplies are welcome.

For information and interview requests please contact Clitoraid press office.

Further information is available at:
http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/index.shtml
https://www.facebook.com/clitoraid
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Foldès
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4D93q1mXQs&feature=player_embedded
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
http://clitoraid.org/donate