About Me

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Alpha Diallo is a graduate from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and a human rights lawyer based in Chicago. He travels around the world to advocate human rights values because he believes that respect for human rights can make the World a better place. He pictures the World as a village and countries as neighbors, and they should coexist in peace, since there is only one race, the human race, and one religion, love. When he does not travel, he sits Under the Human Rights Tree (UTHRT) to write and share human rights stories with the World so he can open a new gate of legal knowledge to a new audience.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

UTHRT: Female Genital Mutilation: The Journey from Traditions to Women’s Rights in Africa.

   
On August 24, 2017, around 4:45 pm, I took the train to Granville, heading north on the Redline Train to Howard, and transferred to the Purple Line train heading to Evanston.  At Noyes, I exited the train, walked West on Noyes Street and turned South onto Ridge Ave, arriving at the Lorrain H. Morton Civic Center around 5:30 pm. I carried my Power-Point presentation on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Women Rights in Africa, coupled with my desire to collaborate with Kadi Doumba’s survivor of FGM. It was a beautiful day to meet people, share and learn on issues of FGM and Women’ rights in Africa.

At 6:30 pm, I started by thanking the audience for coming, and I outlined the different sections of my presentation. I introduced the topic FGM and Women’ Rights in Africa by emphasizing that circumcision in Africa was not a simple physical act, but a tradition which embodied cultural and educational facets. It was the passage from boyhood to manhood, and from girlhood to womanhood. During this period, both boys and girls go through rituals marked by thousands of years’ traditions. There were rituals to be followed, dancing and singing’ ceremonies, prayers and sacrifices to be made. Further, each was taught the history of their tribe, the secrets of their communities, and values any respectable member of their community must have, such as courage, respect, responsibility, and community. For these reasons, the practice of circumcision has been an indispensable ritual in many African communities and has endured the test of time. After going through circumcision, the status of these boys and girls was elevated to a higher social echelon. They emerged purified and as a full member of their community with all the respect and rights of an adult. As Komo Kenyatta described in his book Facing Mount Kenya, “The initiation of both sexes is the most important custom among the Gikuyu. It is looked upon as deciding factors in giving a boy or a girl the status of manhood or womanhood in the Gikuyu community.”

However, since the 1970’s, many legal advocates, health experts, and religious leaders have agreed, if circumcision has been healthy to boys, it has been harmful to girls.  Therefore, they believe the custom of FGM must stop, clarifying that the practice was a women’s rights violation. Since then, many terms have been used to describe the phenomena (varying from Female Genital Cutting to Female Circumcision, and Female Genital Mutilation), but the chosen term by legal experts has been Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a practice whereby “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”

The WHO classified FGM into four different types, which are:

Type I: Also, known as clitoridectomy: this type consists of partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or its prepuce.
Type II: Also, known as excision: the clitoris and labia minora are partially or totally removed, with or without excision of the labia majora.
Type III: Also, known as infibulation or pharaonic: the most severe form, which consists of the narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a seal.
Type IV: It consists all of the other procedures to the genitalia of women for non-medical purposes, such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.

Before, going further, we must recognize that the practice of FGM has not been exclusive to African customs. The practice has been known in several Middle Eastern countries (i.e., Yemen, Iraq-Kurdistan, etc.)  as well as Asia (i.e., Malaysia, Indonesia), in Europe and the United States. Sarah W. Rodriguez, in her article “Rethinking the History of Female Circumcision and Clitoridectomy: American Medicine and Female Sexuality in the late Nineteenth Century,” published December 9, 2007, found that in the 19th century, in Europe and the U.S., gynecologists believed removing the clitoris could treat insanity and masturbation.  For instance, in 1813, a British Doctor, Robert Thomas, suggested clitoridectomy as a cure for nymphomania. In the U.S., a 1985 paper in the Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey, reported that clitoridectomies were performed in the U.S. clear into the 1960s to treat hysteria, erotomania, and lesbianism. Today, there are cases of FGM among immigrant communities living in the U.S. and Europe. Considering, USA Today article titled Michigan “Genital Mutilation” Case Will Test Our Country’s Political Correctness published June 5, 2017, by Paula Kweskin mentioned Doctors Tahera Shafiq and Farida Attara’s arrests for engaging in FGM procedures; in the United States, 507,000 women are at risk or have undergone the procedures of FGM.

Therefore, it appears clear that FMG is a global problem. On February 2017, the WHO estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive have been through FGM, crossing some 30 countries in Africa, and around the world. They were young girls between infancy and age 15.

Many legal scholars consider FGM to be a violation of women and children’s human rights.

    Rights to health.
    The right of the child.
    The right to be free from discrimination.
    The right to sexual and physical integrity.
    To be free from torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

The practice of Female Genital Mutilation is proving to violate certain Human Rights norms.

    Convention of Elimination All form of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
    Convention on the Rights of the Child.
    International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
    International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
    Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
    The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights.
    Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.
    Human Rights Protection Within ECOWAS.

On June 2010, a Human Rights Watch study divided African countries into two categories when it came to dealing with FGM. Countries with laws against FGM; and countries without laws that support FGM eradication.

Countries with laws or regulations against FGM include Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Ghana, Guinea, and Sudan.

Governments that support FGM eradication include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.

Legal scholars’ views on the solution to end the practice of FGM in Africa remain divided.  The divisions are not new, as there exists residue of an ongoing battle between universalists and relativists schools when it comes to the applicability of international human rights norms. Universalists believe that human rights norms are universal laws and must apply to all countries, while relativists think human rights norms took their roots from occidental cultures and values, and should therefore not be imposed on the letter without taking in consideration other countries customs and cultures. I believe a balanced approach must be taken to stop FGM, and the African Governments can help by:

    Providing accurate and accessible information and education about FGM.
    Developing a legislative and policy framework to eradicate FGM, including a law banning the practice for girls and non-consenting adult women.
    Mobilizing communities to develop their own FGM eradication strategies.

At 7:05 pm, I concluded by voicing the need on working together to deal with FGM.  I reminded the audience that FGM was not an African problem, but a universal one, and we must unite and push for the FGM death sentence. I cited Khalid Adem’s 2003 case, whereby Khalid was the first person convicted related to the practice of FGM in the U.S.; and the paradox between laws and their applicability in Guinea, where FGM is illegal under article 265 of the Penal code, but 98% of girls are subjected to FGM.

After my Power-Point presentation, we watched a 13-minute 2009 documentary called “Female Genital Cutting in Kenya”.

At 7:20 pm, Khadi shared her story of being an FGM survivor from Mali.  With a serene voice, she admitted that she couldn’t recall the physical pain, but that the memory of the procedure – going through FGM – still haunted her … and would haunt her forever! She acknowledged that she could not redo the past, but she believed that she could help to fight the practice of FGM by being the voice of the voiceless Malians girls today, so they would not go through the same psychological trauma she had been through.  Her first step – she started at home, protecting her two girls from this practice. She returned to Bamako, Mali to work with a group of women advocating for the end of FGM. She ended her testimony thanking people for giving her a platform to express herself and for their support in the fight against this practice.

At 7: 30 pm, in the name of freedom of expression, we opened the floor, the audience grasped the opportunity to ask questions and to share comments. An audience member claimed that the FGM was not a tradition, but a barbaric act, committed by uneducated people. Another member believed that no person has the right to interfere on people cultures. Someone asked about the meaning of love, when women were subjected to such treatment, while another thought the problem was more about a lack of solidarity amongst women, drawing a parallel between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the practice of FGM.

Both Kadi and I responded to the questions to the best of our combined abilities.  We listened to comments, whether or not we actually agreed with them; but as Julian Baggini said “You should protest about the views of people you disagree with over major moral issues, and argue them down, but you should not try to silence them, however repugnant you find them. That is the bitter pill free speech requires us to swallow.” 

At 8:30 pm, the discussion on FGM and Women’s Rights in Africa came to end. I congratulated Kadi, gave her a hug, and promised to keep in touch. She walked, turning her back to traditions, caring for her two daughters, and saving her future grandchildren from FGM. She accepted what happened to her, and found herself a fight that must be fought, and a voice to end the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.

I know, as a man, when two bodies in love come together, they emerge as one, meet with the gods of love, and give sometimes a light to a new life. The whole journey becomes a joyful experience coming from two hearts.  But, for many women victims of Female Genital Mutilation, the journey of bodies coming together, supposedly of joy and beauty, may turn into pain and sorrow.  It is not Right! Girls victim of FGM often suffer a feeling of stolen sexual pleasures and go through the psychologic trauma which haunts them for the rest of their life.  It must stop!

In Africa, each year 3,000 girls are subjected to FGM, without echoes. I headed home knowing my presentation would not bring an end to FGM; but, my duty was to share.  Now, I hope whoever attended that day of August 24, 2017, and read my writings of October 10, 2017, will join the 3,000 voiceless African girls, and together with the echo of our voices, break the ceilings of 5,000 years of traditional FGM practices.

Sincerely,

Alpha

Monday, June 5, 2017

U.T.H.R.T. Mother Earth Has Rights Too!

When God decided to create, his masterpiece called “Mother Earth”, it took him six days according to the bible in Genesis 1:1 to 2:3. There were light, the earth with its lands; water, the sun, moon and stars; and various species of plants and animals. Amongst the animals, God chose humans and made them in His image which is love. He provided our needs and asked us to live in peace on earth despite our differences.

There were beauties in the world, the water's source of life was cleaned and free; the fresh air purified our days and nights; the animals were our neighbors and shared their joys and songs with us, and we learned to see God through the beauty of trees, rivers, and mountains. We woke up with the sun and went to bed with the moon; we live together as a family. We took from Mother Earth what was needed. Algonquian legend says that "beneath the clouds lives the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals, and human". As result, Mother Earth and humans lived as one and in harmony.

One day, a day, historians couldn’t date, one of our ancestor got blinded by fear, went on to fence a piece of land and trees, and told his neighbors that they belonged to him. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau put it on his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality “The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society.” A new society based on fear was born, and since then our relationships with Mother Nature have been unhealthy. We have discarded God’s instructions of living with love and harmony, and have chosen the path of self-destruction in the name of progress and profit.

Furthermore, humans went on to misinterpret Mark verse 12:31 which says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”. Some believe that “loving your neighbors” means loving only people of same race, sex, or religious group, yet others believe that their neighbors could only be humans; therefore, they overlooked nature and other animals, and acted towards them in unloving manners.

For so long, Humanity’s relations toward Mother Earth has been destructive; As a result, she has contracted many diseases such as deforestation, soil degradation, and air pollution. Today, wherever you go, you see the impact of unhealthy humans’ behaviors on nature. In Latin America, home to the largest rainforest, people have been witnessing the destruction of the Amazon Forest. Considering to Rhett Butler’s article entitled “Amazon Destruction” and published on January 26, 2017, over 750,000 square kilometers (289,000 square miles) of the amazon rainforest has been destroyed since 1978 across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana. Further, Mark Kinver a BBC environmental reporter attested to this destruction in his December 4, 2014, article entitled African Soil Crisis Threatens Food Security. “Neglecting the health of Africa’s soil will lock the continent into a cycle of food insecurity for generations to come.” And in Asia, China, the most populated country in the world has been covering her population health under a blanket of air pollution -even in the summer time. In 2007, an article about China's Pollution Problem, a New York Times explained that "Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party."

Therefore, it is time to overcome our fears and accept a new interpretation of Mark 12:31 which views the world as a whole, where people, animals, and nature must live in harmony as neighbors, and love each other. Global warming is real, it is causing both North and South poles to melt, and waters to rise. We must break the silence, accept the truth of our unbalanced relations with nature, and redeem ourselves before it is too late. God created Mother Earth with love and under fear, we created a society of consumerism without consideration of our eco-system.

The road to redemption can be long, but a step must be taken to build a better healthy relation with Mother Earth. Countries have been coming together to construct a legal framework, but unsuccessful. The bridge connecting the Rio Conference on Environment and Development (June 3-14,1992); to the Earth System Governance Tokyo Conference (January 28-31, 2013), and to the Paris Climate Change Conference (2015) has been long and shaky. The bridge was not built by architects and construction workers, but by politicians who most of the time defended campaign donors’ interests, enjoyed free meals, drinks, and hotel rooms, and disregarded the common good. Therefore, I will advise you not to drive your car on that bridge until they get their acts together and accept Mother Earth has rights, or you will drown. As Evo Morales said “Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.”

As a result, you cannot effort to leave this matter in the hands of a group of people. We, humans, must redeem ourselves by accepting Mother Earth has rights too. In Africa since the beginning of times, people have always had deep spiritual connections with nature and its surroundings. For example, in Casamance, Senegal, there were locations the Jolas called Sacred Forests which were protected and venerated by them. It was forbidden to cut trees or hunt animals in these areas, and it was the duty of each member of the community to protect the Sacred Forests. Studies made by Rukarivo Tatsande on “African Totems, Kinship and Conservation”. Indicated over 100 plant and animal species are considered totems among Batooro, Banyoro and Baganda tribes in Uganda. Today, the benefits of these relations affect the preservation of Mother Earth and the “raison d’etre” of safari.

In Chicago, I recalled on Friday, April 24th ,2009, at the Stella Maris Chapel of Loyola University Chicago from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, activists, musicians and nature lovers came together to celebrate International Mother Earth Day under a synchronized sound of music, prayers and good wishes. The initiative of celebrating International Mother Earth Day was established in 2009, by the General Assembly under Resolution A/RES/63/278, to provide an opportunity to raise public awareness around the world to the challenges regarding the well-being of the planet and all the life it supports. Since 2009, Chicago has been slowly redeeming itself. Lady Michigan has been a blessing for the city, some roads have been shaped for bikers to ride freely and in some stores plastic bags are no longer free. Chicagoans are more self-conscious on climate issues and in touch with nature through urban gardening, recycling and parks. These small transformations around the city are a stone in the ocean, but it is a stone. The International Mother Day theme this year has been "Environmental & Climate Literacy".

On April 22, 2017, the Windy City was on its April’s moods, I decided to celebrate Mother Earth Day with the world by having a solitary walk near Lake Michigan. She was beautiful on her gold and blue dress, and I was not alone enjoying the view. I felt hopeful because, whenever, there is love, there will be hope. In Bolivia, Mother Earth was baptized as a “Collective subject of public interest” and has been given a legal personality. The law 701 of the Rights of Mother Earth was passed by the Bolivian Plurinational Assembly in December 2010, it enumerates seven specific rights to which Mother Earth and her constituent life system are entitled: Right to life, to the diversity of life, to water, to clean air, to equilibrium, to restoration and to live free of contamination. I hope the world will follow Bolivia’s footsteps, or at least, humans will make the effort in their daily life to recognize and respect those rights. There is a Cree Indian prophecy that says: “Only after the last Tree has been cut down, only after the last River was been poisoned, only after the last Fish has been caught, only then will you find that Money cannot be eaten.” I wish you Happy International Mother Earth Day 2017, Love Your Neighbors!

Sincerely,

Alpha