Women-rights defenders persuade Dagestani Muftiate to condemn female circumcision

An official religious explanation on the prohibition of female circumcision in Islam will significantly reduce this practice in Dagestan. The decision of the republic's Muftiate to issue such a Fatwa was the result of a campaign to condemn mutilation surgeries, rights defenders assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Dagestani Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM, or Muftiate) is preparing a ban on female circumcision, Zainulla-Haji Ataev, the head of the Fatwa division under the Dagestani Muftiate, has announced. However, Islamic scholars have pointed out that believers are not obliged to agree with this Fatwa.

The news of the Muftiate's decision was a surprise for the Dagestani activists dealing with the problem of female circumcision, said Svetlana Anokhina, a human rights defender. Since 2016, she has been the initiator of a public campaign against female circumcision.

"It will definitely save women. The Muftiate is a rather influential organization; they have a huge audience," Ms Anokhina has noted.

According to her data, mutilation surgeries in Dagestan continue, despite the report of the "Legal Initiative" and the public campaign against this practice.

In the opinion of Irina Kosterina, the programme coordinator of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Moscow and an expert on gender issues in Northern Caucasus, the Muftiate may attribute cases of this practice to private decisions in order to evade responsibility.