Topic: Controversial Cultural and Religious Practices
Country: El Salvador
Delegate Name: Olivia Wolfe
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All El Salvador position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
Many controversial practices take place in our nations, such as the illegal trade/slaughter of wildlife, damaging animal welfare; also including ritual slaughter and religious practice surrounding animals. Dog fighting, a practice that although disgraceful is part of many peoples cultures, has been banned in El Salvador after animal welfare legislation was passed. Aside from cultural practices involving animals, in over 30 african countries, the tradition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still practiced, despite Un resolutions attempting to prohibit it. Along with FGM many controversial cultural and religious practices harm the likes of women and girls. For El Salvador, only recently has an unanimous vote helped protect girls from underage marriage by their rapists/ marriages forced on them by their parents. El Salvador hopes to further protections for girls and women.
The practice of letting a family give their daughter away to their rapist in order to obtain help and funding from that man has now, after 23 years, been abolished. Underage marriage has been a problem all over the world and despite the rule that in El Salvador it was illegal from any persons under the age 18 to marry; exceptions were made for rapists who had impregnated the child. This is now no longer an exception and rapists will serve their time. El Salvador ended these exceptions and is adding more laws and legislation for women due to the fact that as a country we care about our women, we hope to end the violence and cruel laws against them.
As a country with a lack of Controversial practices and many changes in law expected to end any, we would like to remain neutral in this matter. We do however believe El Salvador is becoming a more accepting nation and we could not support a lack of effort from the Un against countries practicing things that we see as wrong. We hope the UN takes more action against things such as FGM. Girls who are forced into FGM are usually under the impression that without it they are worthless or that they won't be accepted, FGM is also advertised to young girls as being the rite of passage into womanhood. We would support the UN in providing education to young girls that their sexuality is not something they should be stripped of and that there are alternate rituals they can take into womanhood. We would further encourage the UN to not only create education for these vulnerable girls but to also provide rehabilitation for victims of FGM.
