E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 68 121 In some cultures, the labia minora are fastened together by means of thorns, silk thread or slivers of wood. The girl has to lie out, legs bound, for forty days to enable scar tissue to form. A tiny opening is retained to allow the passage of urine and menstrual blood. On the wedding night, the woman is opened up by her husband. Women are often reinfibulated after giving birth for as long as the husband so demands. 122 Excision is wrongly called female “circumcision”. The clitoris is not a piece of skin but a vital part of the female genital organs. The only conceivable masculine equivalent would be removal of the penis! 123 See report on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/14, para. 36). 124 Including among Bedouin tribes in the south of Israel. See report on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/11, para. 56). 125 E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/6, para. 36. 126 Ibid., paras. 22 and 23. 127 For example, in Qatar (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/11, para. 66). 128 See the website www.cam.org/~rqasf/sp07_02.html. 129 This is the case, for example, in the Sudan (see note 11 above). 130 The same reasoning can be transposed to other practices such as dowry, polygamy, treatment of adulterous women, etc. 131 See report of CEDAW (A/54/38/Rev.1, para. 12) and preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/6, para. 45). 132 Se report of CEDAW, consideration of the report of Belize (A/54/38/Rev.1, p. 51, para. 49). 133 See report of CEDAW with respect to Nepal (A/54/38/Rev.1, p. 60, para. 153). See also preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/6, para. 28). Regarding Bolivia, see E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/17, para. 62. 134 See, inter alia, preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/6, para. 28). 135 See report of CEDAW, consideration of the report of Algeria (A/54/38/Rev.1, p. 15, para. 91). Regarding the Congo, see E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/17, para. 66. 136 See the example of Kuwait, Report of the Human Rights Committee (A/55/40, vol. I, para. 458).

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