Sign the Petition - let the Onasanwo family stay.

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday August 30, 2002 17:30 by Noel Hogan - USI dep_president at usi dot ie 086 3854123

Folks, If you could please sign this online petition and email the link onto anyone who may be interested that would be great. Noel Hogan http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Onasanwo/petition.html

The following is a letter from June Coughlan, Woman's Rights Officer of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI)

A chara,

I am writing this letter to alert you to the plight of Christina Onasanwo and her family. Christina is an eighteen year old woman who three weeks ago was celebrating her Leaving Certificate results and looking forward to studying business studies at Rathmines College of Commerce. However, Christina and her family have since been issued with a deportation order to return to Nigeria, the country from which they fled in 1999 because Christina and her little sister Bolu were at risk of Female Genital Mutilation which had been ordered by the tribunal elders. I’m sure you all aware that this is also the country where a young mother, Amina Lawal Kurami faces the sentence of death by stoning because she had a baby, whom she is still nursing, out of wedlock.

Christina is particularly frightened of being deported because, if she is sent home she will face Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Female Genital Mutilation is the term used to refer to the removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia. The term FGM is often clothed under the trado-cultural “circumcision”. In referring to FGM as female circumcision it is being inadequately associated with male circumcision. The clitoris, like the penis is rich with arteries, veins, lymphatics as well as sensory and motor nerves. Therefore a more appropriate analogy would be between a cliterodectomy and a penisdectomy where the entire penis is removed.

The worst physical effect of FGM is death. Little girls and young women die as a result of bleeding to death, shock, infection e.g. gangrene, or tetanus. Usage of the same cutting instrument on several girls without sterilization spreads HIV, which later leads to AIDS. Other short and long term effects include extreme pain caused by small benign tumours of the nerve, urinary retention, permanent incontinence. Mensturation is a nightmare for women who have been genitally mutilated from the moment of menarche onwards, hermacotolpos, menstrual disorders, vaginal stenosis, infertility or sterility are commonplace. Mensturation is particularly traumatic for women who have been subjected to the worst form of FGM, infibulation whereby the vaginal opening has been reduced in diameter is equal to that of a matchstick menstrual blood must therefore remain backed up in her body for days at a time. Infibulation can also lead to Chronic Pelvic Inflammatory Disease. Obstretical complications include prolonged labour and fistula formation, continence control again.

Psychologically, feelings of anxiety, terror, humiliation, and betrayal are common. Psychiatric complications such as depression can develop as a long- term consequence of FGM

A woman’s sexual enjoyment is severely curtailed as a result of FGM. Many women who have been genitally mutilated never experience orgasm as a direct result of FGM. Women who have been infibulated find any form of sexual activity to be excrutiatingly painful because through the practice of infibulation a woman’s virginity is ensured until her wedding night by the formation of a chastity belt composed of the girl’s own skin.

Christina’s aunt died as result of FGM. Christina’s mother, Elizabeth, has been so traumatized by the thought of her family being forced to return to Nigeria and her daughters Christina and Bolu(6) being subjected to this lethal ritual that she has been driven insane and is now in psychiatric care.

135 million of the world’s women and little girls have been genitally mutilated. Two million are at risk every year, this works out at approximately 6,000 per day. These statistics do not include all those who have died as a result of FGM, there are no statistics to tell us how many little girls and young women have died as a result. By signing and circulating the petition attached you could help save two lives and ensure that the whole family enjoy a content life in this country. (This after all is what is promoted in article 41 of Bunreacht na hEireann). The petitions will be put together and presented to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael Mc Dowell TD. Already, various politicians have appealed to the Minister but he has chosen to ignore their appeals. The Minister’s ignorance is particularly distasteful because at the 1995 United Nations Conference on Women, the Irish Government, along with 189 other governments of the world, signed the Beijing Platform for Action - an agenda of women’s human rights. They promised action on twelve critical areas. The third critical area was to eliminate all forms of discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl child. This critical area was drawn up in light of the fact that 6,000 girls are at risk of FGM each day.

We are appealing to the Minister to reconsider the Onasanwo family’s plight. Consequently, I am at present organizing an all night peaceful protest/ vigil outside the Department of Justice from 8pm onwards to remind him of the commitment the Irish government made to the rights of the girl child at the signing of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 and the importance placed on the unity of the family unit in Bunreacht na hEireann drafted in 1937 and enacted in 1938. The press will be there and I hope to get as many community representatives, politicians etc. involved as possible. I would appreciate it if you could join the protest even for a short while. If you are unable to physically join the protest, please spread the word and encourage as many people as possible to sign the petition. Remember: EVERY SINGLE SIGNATURE COUNTS! I thank you for taking the time to read this email and in advance for whatever you can so for this family.

Is mise,
June Coghlan - Siobhan Ni Cochlain
Women’s Rights Officer - Oifigeach Chearta na mBan
Union of Students in Ireland - Aontas na Mac Leinn in Eirinn.