A bloody secret hidden from the state and society

In 2020-2021, the Azerbaijani press published articles about the savage practice of circumcision of young girls, a female Sunnet, secretly practiced in the northern regions of the country. This is a very ancient custom, widespread not only among Sunni Muslims, but also among peoples professing other beliefs in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Australia. Girls, usually up to two years old, had their genitals cut out or mutilated with a sharp instrument, so that, as an adult, the girl did not look overly sexual and remained faithful to her husband - this is the anti-scientific rationale for female genital mutilation.

According to UNICEF, more than 200 million girls and women worldwide are victims of female genital mutilation. In 2012, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution prohibiting female genital mutilation. Non-profit organizations estimate that women in 92 countries have suffered from mutilation.

Female circumcision is still performed in the North Caucasus, Russia, where the procedure can be secretly performed even in a public hospital. In Russia, Caucasian Knot writes a lot about criminal female circumcision, which recently published an interview with human rights activist Svetlana Anokhina. The Office of the Public Defender of Georgia has officially confirmed that the procedure is being practiced in three villages of the Kakheti region (Tivi, Saruso and Chantliskure). In 2017, the article "Disfigurement of female genitals" was introduced into the Criminal Code of Georgia. It provides for imprisonment for a term of 2 to 4 years.

This practice, albeit in isolated cases, can be encountered in Azerbaijan, the media write. It is indicated that female circumcision has survived among a part of the Avar population of Azerbaijan. This custom exists in villages, mainly in the northern part of the region - Danachi, Pashan, Makov, Kebeloba, Mazykh, Yolayrij, Jar, Akhahdere and Zilban.

An Azerbaijani journalist Nurlana Jalil conducted a detailed study of the problem. She does not name those who told her about how they underwent the terrible procedure in childhood. The journalist writes that Azerbaijani gynecologists did not observe women with signs of circumcision during their medical practice. However, Nurlana believes that this problem exists in Azerbaijan; families hide it from society and the state.

Azerbaijani legislation prohibits such fanaticism, although, unlike some other countries, there is no special mention of female genital mutilation in our laws. According to Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm, that is, harm dangerous to a person's life, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to eight years. The same acts committed by a group of persons, by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, with particular cruelty, including severe suffering for the victim or for hire, are punishable by imprisonment for a term of six to eleven years.

The author of this article interviewed several residents of the Gakh and Zagatala regions of Azerbaijan. Some have not heard about female genital mutilation; others know about it, but are not aware of the application of such a procedure in Azerbaijan. A native of the Zagatala region, an Avar living in Russia, wrote a letter to the author, in which he said, “Until the middle of the last century, this procedure was practiced among the Dagestani-speaking population of Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as among the Sunnis. In the North Caucasus, it is common among the Avars, Akhvavians, and among others, this savagery is rare."

At the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, the senior adviser of the legal department, Rahil Suleymanov, told Turan that they had not received any complaints or any other reports from the districts about female circumcision. If the State Committee had information about a crime called “female genital mutilation,” they would not hide it and would definitely start working to eradicate this custom.  Suleymanov recalled that the State Committee does not hide information about domestic violence and other crimes against women and children from the public. This means that there is no reason to suspect the Committee of deliberately concealing information about female genital mutilation from the public, - he added.

The Senior Adviser believes that a publication on this topic is irrelevant, it is not necessary to write, so as not to arouse public interest in female genital mutilation.

It is alarming that not a single researcher of the problem conducted an anonymous survey among the inhabitants of the Caucasian part of Azerbaijan. It was not taken into account that female circumcision was historically carried out in secret, even without the knowledge of the men of the family. The performers can be rural healers interested in the mystery of the rite. This is a purely feminine custom, the neighbors are not told about it,” Azerbaijani highlanders told the journalist Nurlana Jalil. The rite differs from the circumcision of boys, which is often accompanied by festivities no worse than a wedding. The women of the Russian North Caucasus told the same to the journalists.

If this happens in Azerbaijan, the information may not be received by the State Committee for Family, Women and Children.  There is no propaganda against the savage custom that mutilates the body and psyche of girls in Azerbaijan. But this does not mean that there is no problem and you can close this folder. Monitoring, anonymous surveys among the population and gynecologists should be carried out in the country, taking into account the special circumstances characteristic of the problem under study.