The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.

Why girls are advised to hide spoons in underwear before flying abroad

'25.05.2018'

Source: Newsru.com

Girls and girls who fear that they will be taken abroad for forced marriages or barbaric genital mutilation procedures (Female Genital Mutilation, FMG), the authorities in the Swedish city of Gothenburg are advised to hide a metal spoon in their underwear.

Фото: Depositphotos

As Katarina Idegard, who oversees the fight against violence based on tradition, said, airport staff was instructed how to respond in such cases, writes Newsru.com.

“The spoon will be detected by the metal detector during the check, you will be taken to the side and you can talk to the staff in private,” Idegard explained in a comment. Reuters. According to her, for girls this may be the last chance to ask for help.

There is no data on the number of girls exported abroad for forced marriages. But, as Idegard clarified, last year 139 received reports on marriage with children or forced marriages on the national hotline. Swedish activists intend to urge other cities to follow the example of the authorities of Gothenburg and use the idea with a spoon to protect girls, added Idegard.

According to the British charity Karma nirvanaIn the UK, this tactic helped save several girls from forced marriage. The organization notes that hiding a spoon in underwear is an easy and safe way for girls to warn the authorities of their trouble, when the family controls almost every step you take.

As Idegard explains, now this campaign is particularly relevant, since the risks of forcibly exporting girls increase during school holidays.

In 2015, a study found that up to 38 girls and women living in Sweden are likely to have undergone FMG - it is still widely practiced in countries such as Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and The Gambia. In Sweden, forced marriage and FMG are considered illegal and punishable by prison terms, even if it happened outside the country.

It should be noted that earlier it was customary to call female genital mutilation operations “female circumcision”, which placed them on a par with male circumcision. However, if the latter procedure has medical indications, then in the female version we are talking about inflicting extremely painful and often deadly mutilations for religious reasons.

A 2003 UNICEF study found that 97% of married women in Egypt had undergone genital mutilation. Although such operations were officially banned in the country in 2009, they are still widely practiced clandestinely. In 2016, UNICEF estimates that there are about 200 million women worldwide who have undergone FMG - mostly in 27 African countries, but also in Indonesia, Iraq and Yemen.

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