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[STK]
[IN] HEA MEQ MTC
[SU] WOM NPT AVO LAW
TO HEALTH, MEDICAL, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
Clitoraid surgeries thwarted by Burkina Faso's revocation of doctors'
licenses
LAS VEGAS, March 18, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Medical licenses
previously granted to the American medical staff of Clitoraid, a
nonprofit organization that helps victims of female genital mutilation
obtain clitoral repair surgery, have been revoked in Burkina Faso due
to "blatant discrimination against the Raelian Movement," according to
a statement released today by Clitoraid.
"Although granted earlier with no problem, our doctors' licenses were
revoked after they had completed just one week of operations," said
Dr. Brigitte Boisselier, president of Clitoraid and spokesperson for
the Raelian Movement. "We couldn't open our new, fully-equipped
Kamkaso Hospital after the health minister refused to sign promised
documents. That was bad enough, but our doctors were able to operate
at another hospital. This latest blow, revoking their licenses for
what the health ministry called 'undisclosed irregularities,' confirms
there is organized discrimination against us."
The existence of such discrimination was confirmed by Mr. Sebgo,
health minister himself, Boisselier said.
He told the Thompson Reuters Foundation news agency: "Medical
organisations should be focused on saving lives and not advertising
their religion in an attempt to convert vulnerable people." Boisselier
remarks: "In a country that hosts Christian and Muslim hospitals,
that statement is highly discriminatory. It's also absurd. Although
inspired by Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement, Clitoraid
is entirely independent from the Movement. And we would never
proselytize in a hospital. Women who come to us seeking medical
services and support, which is what our professional medical staff
provides. The religious affiliations of our medical team members are
varied as well as irrelevant. We often don't even know what they are."
She said the Clitoraid team was also upset to learn that Burkina
Faso's minister of female affairs, Madame Nestorine Sangare, had made
the comment, "To live without the clitoris isn't the end of the
world."
"When a woman bleeds to death from being cut, that is indeed the end
of her world," Boisselier said. "And when she suffers intolerable pain
with each sexual encounter, that too is the end of the world, since no
one should have to live in pain to satisfy an ancestral custom. Or
even worse, that she should have to continue living with that pain
merely because those who offer to stop it are members of a religious
minority."
Boisselier praised Clitoraid's volunteer surgeons and other medical
staff.
"Despite the turmoil following their arrival, we're extremely grateful
that such highly trained professionals volunteered to care for those
seeking our help," Boisselier said. "They successfully operated on 29
women during the week their licenses were still valid, and they also
trained a Burkinabe surgeon to do the procedure. So the other 50 women
scheduled for surgery with us will still be able to have it."
Other women saw their hopes for the free repair surgery vanish when
the American volunteer surgeons lost their right to operate in Burkina
Faso.
"It was heartbreaking," Boisselier said. "Two women came all the way
from Senegal, with one in constant pain. We hope the newly trained
surgeon can operate on her."
Clitoraid and the AVFE association (Clitoraid's local partner) have
engaged a law firm to deal with the defamation allegations and matters
of denied or revoked licenses.
"The discriminatory aspects will also be added to our pending file at
the United Nations Rapporteur on Human Rights and Religious
Discrimination," Boisselier said. "That file lists the many cases of
discrimination suffered by the Raelian Movement in French-speaking
countries."
SOURCE Clitoraid
-0- 03/18/2014
/CONTACT: Donna Newman, usa-pr@clitoraid.org, 305-690-9800
CO: Clitoraid
ST: Nevada
IN: HEA MEQ MTC
SU: WOM NPT AVO LAW
PRN
-- DC85325 --
0000 03/18/2014 14:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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