Cultural Rights or Human Rights: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation

The article "Cultural Rights or Human Rights: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation" discusses the reasons behind female genital mutilation over the centuries. Even today it is being used in over 28 countries. The fact that the practice of FGM is performed on more than 2,000,000 women is really outstanding. Many people in the west find that the practice of FGM is against human rights, the people that do use it today are using it a rite of passage for their young girls to become fully fledged woman.

The reasons for the practice include initiation into womanhood, preparation for the pain of childbirth. After getting the surgery the girl turns into a woman and would then gain social status amongst her people. This would also mean that she is allowed to married because now she is a woman. The surgery itself is mostly done by a female "mid-wife" and done in unsanitary conditions with where no pain killers are available. These conditions would lead to long term pain and infections.

Now it has become a major issue in today's society because of the demands of ethnic minorities going into Western countries have grown considerably in the past few decades because of the increased migration of members of ethnic minority groups, and their increased political power. Policies of multiculturalism that take into account the concerns. They believe it is right and is a part of their culture, where as the rest of the west are see it as something wrong and inhuman.

Many people of the west who do not practice FGM are against it and even have tried to get it abolished. Saying that is unethical and against women's rights, but the countries that use is saying that it is the countries duty to decide its own cultural norms. It's up to the people to decide the laws making it either legal or illegal. Poulter's multiculturalism seems to be the most only argument to the minority group's defense of FGM. It is nearly impossible that the phenomenon of FGM will be reflected as a norm that will be allowed as long as it is a norm practiced by the minority.

FGM is seen to as a violation of universal human rights, and most members of the United Nations have signed their Declaration of Human Rights. These signatures, however, often do not represent all other concepts of all existing cultures. As the prolonged article says, some view this as the Western countries imposing their conception of legal rights on non-Western member states.