Most girls in the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq undergo female genital mutilation, and Kurdish authorities have failed to address the issue because of cultural concerns, according to a report released by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, the AP/Washington Post reports. The report said the Kurdish Regional Government, elected in July 2009, has made progress on domestic violence and so-called "honor killings" but has been reluctant to recognize FGM as a type of violence against women.

Seventy-three percent of Kurdish women and girls older than age 14 reported having undergone FGM, according to a survey by the non-governmental organization Association for Crisis Assistance and Development, or WADI, that is included in the report. WADI surveyed 1,408 girls and women from September 2007 through May 2008.

WADI worked with lawmakers in the former regional government in 2008 to develop an anti-FGM strategy but that support was suddenly pulled without explanation, according to WADI official Fallah Muradkhan.

HRW said Kurdish officials' long-term strategy for reducing FGM should include an awareness campaign on the health consequences and a law prohibiting FGM for children and non-consenting adults (Al-Shalchi/Barzanji, AP/Washington Post, 6/16).

PRI Interviews HRW Official

On Wednesday, HRW's Jessie Graham discussed the report on Public Radio International's "The World" (Werman, "The World," PRI, 6/16).

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