Female Genital Cutting, Circumcision Common in Indonesia: UNICEF

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There are several disturbing stories of traditions all around the world that have caught the attention of so many people. One of the most bizarre stories is the female genital circumcision in Indonesia.

According to a report by UNFPA, female circumcision is pretty common in some regions of Indonesia because it is told that uncircumcised women are considered "dirty."

A certain Rosa from Jakarta revealed that circumcision is part of their religion.

"The day before I was discharged by the midwife, my daughter was circumcised. She is now three weeks old. When she becomes an adult, she will pray five times a day and read the Al Quran," she said.

Reports have it that there are almost 140 million girls in the entire world who have undergone Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. Experts are saying that if the trends continue, 15 million more will be added to the total numbers by 2030. This is definitely an alarming figure that UNICEF is urging some countries that practice this type of tradition to consider stopping it.

FGM is happening to some countries in Asia but, in the Middle East and Africa, there are 29 countries that practice this procedure. There are also some indigenous people in South America who have their version of female circumcision.

According to Dr. Ahmed Ragaa Abdel-Hameed Ragab of the International Islamic Centre for Population Studies and Research at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, some countries are not committed enough to put a stop of this sickening practice.

"Many countries have passed laws to criminalize FGM; however, legislation alone cannot solve the problem," he said. "FGM can only be abolished by a grass-roots approach that involves community education and takes into consideration all aspects of a particular culture and tries to work within that system of beliefs to eradicate this practice."

Many people have already joined the petition to stop such practice but only Indonesia has officially banned FGM. Other countries have not even begun to discuss about it yet.

UNICEF's goal is to completely stop the practice anywhere in the world or at least reduce it to a more controllable numbers. However, it will require a much larger effort to put a stop to female circumcision. The government from the countries where this practice is widespread should show their commitment in stopping it.

Meanwhile, according to a report by the New York Times, although the Indonesian government has officially made it illegal to practice FGM, the procedure is still very common in some locations especially in the remote areas of the country.