Female Circumcision

Description

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation, as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons." WHO estimates that 140 million women and girls around the world have experienced it, including 101 million in Africa. This episode explores the efforts to treat female circumcision as a human rights abuse. Pulitzer prize-winning author Alice Walker discusses her novel, Possessing the Secret Joy, about the response of an African woman to this cultural tradition. Also featured, "Diary from Hell" is a documentary about Manila's Smokey Mountain garbage dump, making the link between the environment and human rights; and a Sarajevo daily newspaper is given a human rights award.

Runtime

26 min

Series

Subjects

Genre

Date of Publication

[2013], c1993

Database

Films on Demand

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