HUMAN RIGHTS, CULTURAL TRADITION AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES TO FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING

This article investigates the question of how to address, in an appropriate and effective way, an internationally defined violation of human rights that is also a cultural tradition. The practice of female genital cutting (FGC), an accepted and valued tradition, which has existed for centuries in some parts of the world, is investigated, and Amartya Sen’s framework of human rights and development is used to critically assess development initiatives aimed at reducing rates of FGC. Sen’s concepts of human rights and freedoms provide the foundation for the central argument of this article that: rates of FGC will only be reduced if families and individuals feel that their choice to reject FGC will not bring with it long term negative socio-cultural consequences for their daughters or themselves. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and its support for the Tostan program, is used as a case study to further consider the applicability of Sen’s framework to development initiatives. It is argued that the Tostan approach to FGC was successful at reducing rates of the practice because it encouraged community-wide education, attitude change and abandonment of FGC, thereby reducing the potential negative socio-cultural consequences that might otherwise result from a rejection of the practice. The article concludes that this approach can be applied to other human rights issues, including early marriage and abortion