Zero tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation

Article: Salome Donkor
Today is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. The occasion is a UN-sponsored awareness day that takes place on February 6 each year, as part of efforts to make the world aware of female genital cutting and to promote its eradication.
The late Mrs Stella Obasanjo, the then First Lady of Nigeria, made the official declaration on "Zero Tolerance for FGM" in Africa during a conference organised by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC) on February 6, 2003. Then the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights adopted this day as an international awareness day.
The term "female genital mutilation" (also called "female genital cutting" and "female genital mutilation/cutting") refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organ for non-medical reasons. Female genital mutilation has no known health benefits. On the contrary, it is known to be harmful to girls and women in many ways.
An estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women world-wide have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and more than three million girls are at risk of being cutting each year on the African continent alone.
Sources from the Population Reference Bureau on the prevalence of FGM/C among younger and older women indicate that in Somalia 99 per cent of women aged 35-39 and 97 per cent of women aged from 15-19, have gone through the practice, in Gambia, 80 per cent of women aged 35-39 and 88 per cent of women aged 15-19 have gone through the practice, while in Kenya 40 per cent of women aged between 35-39 and 20 per cent of women aged from 15-19 have gone through the practice. In Ghana, as of 2006 3.8 per cent of women aged from 15-49, 1.4 per cent aged 15-19 and 5.7 per cent aged 35-39, have gone through FGM/C.
FGM or cutting is practised in at least 28 countries in Africa and a few others in Asia and the Middle East. Among the countries where the practice is most prevalent is Guinea , where FGM/C has been inflicted on 99 per cent of women there. There are also reports from Europe, North America and Australia, indicating that the practice takes place among immigrant communities.
It is generally performed on girls between ages four and 12, although it is practised in some cultures as early as a few days after birth or as late as just prior to marriage. Typically, traditional excisors have carried out the procedure, but recently a discouraging trend has emerged in some countries where medical professionals are increasingly performing the procedure.
FGM or cutting of the female genitalia is practised at all educational levels and in all social classes and occurs among many religious groups, although no religion mandates it. Prevalence rates vary significantly from country to country (from nearly 98 per cent in Somalia to less than 1 per cent in Uganda).
Since the early 1990s, FGM/C has gained recognition as a health and human rights issue among African governments, the international community, women’s organisations, and professional associations. Global and national efforts to end FGM/C have supported legislation targeting excisors, medical professionals, and families who perpetuate the practice, but political will and implementation remain an issue.
The practice poses serious physical and mental health risks for women and young girls, especially for women who have undergone extreme forms of the procedure.
Forced excision inflicts pain and trauma – which is far worse when there is no anaesthesia. Lack of blade sterilisation can cause exposure to HIV/AIDS or long-term health complications.
According to a 2006 World Health Organisation (WHO) study, FGM/C can be linked to increased complications in childbirth and even maternal deaths. Other side effects include severe pain, haemorrhage, tetanus, infection, infertility, cysts and abscesses, urinary incontinence, and psychological and sexual problems.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working closely with its partners around the world in the campaign for the abandonment of FGM/C everywhere within a generation. The organisation does this by raising awareness and enhancing capacities at various levels of society and in the government.
UNICEF’s approach recognises that all children are entitled to protection – as laid out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF draws attention to the duties of governments, families, communities and individuals to respect those rights and supports them in doing so. In addition, children and adolescents themselves can play an active role in their own protection and as advocates for the protection of others.
The organisation identifies eight key aspects of a proactive environment against the practice, namely: Attitudes, traditions, customs, behaviour and practices, governmental commitment to fulfil and protect girls’’ rights, open discussion and engagement with child protection issues, protective legislation and enforcement, the capacity to protect and develop children’s life skills, knowledge and participation, monitoring and reporting of child protection issues, and services for recovery and reintegration.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa explicitly recognize that practices harmful to women such as FGM are violations of human rights.
Many governments in Africa and elsewhere have taken steps to eliminate the practice of FGM in their countries. These steps include laws criminalizing FGM, education and outreach programs, and the use of civil remedies and administrative regulations to prevent the practice. Eighteen countries— Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Togo—have enacted laws criminalizing FGM. The penalties range from a minimum of three months to a maximum of life in prison. Several countries also impose monetary fines.
In Ghana, actions towards ending FGM are in accordance with Article 5 of the Protocol of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and on the Rights of Women in Africa. In this vein, some women were arrested and prosecuted at the law courts for violating a ban against the traditional practice of cutting the genitals of young girls, which had been described as an ''outmoded custom.''
FGM is a violation of the rights of women and girls and the medical, social, psycho-sexual and economic consequences of the practice should make all to resolve not to allow it to continue under the guise of tradition or religion.
The WHO is committed to the elimination of female genital mutilation within a generation and is focussing on advocacy, research and guidance for health professionals and health systems. This is a call to all states, international and national organisations, civil society and communities to uphold the rights of girls and women.
It also calls on those bodies and communities to develop, strengthen and support specific and concrete actions directed towards ending female genital mutilation. Without any one of these elements, children are more vulnerable to abuse, violence, discrimination and violation of their rights.