On January 26, 2015, an Egyptian court handed a physician a two-year prison sentence with hard labor, a fine, and the closure of his clinic for one year. The ruling is the first of its kind since a law banned female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2008. The victim’s father also received a suspended imprisonment sentence. Moushira Khattab takes great pride in having been the initiator and chief engineer of this particular law, in a process which she considers ground-breaking. In this article she argues that only through education can a cultural paradigm shift put an end to such crimes.
About the Author
Moushira Khattab
First Vice Chair of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; Former Ambassador of Egypt to South Africa and to the Federal Republic of Czechoslovakia; and Former Egyptian Minister of Family and Population
Middle East Program
The Wilson Center’s Middle East Program serves as a crucial resource for the policymaking community and beyond, providing analyses and research that helps inform US foreign policymaking, stimulates public debate, and expands knowledge about issues in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Read more
