Female Genital Mutilation (Circumcision) (FGM) is a human rights violation that follows women and girls across the globe. In the last few years news has begun to shed a little more light on the global fight, which in many ways is only in its infancy. In February 2008 10 UN agencies urge end to female genital mutilation, for which the UN claimed the best initiative to change this tradition is to come from individual countries. Since a few battles have been won over the past few years, such as most recently in Uganda, where the practice has now legally banned, and those engaging in the practice will now face 10 years in prison, and life if the victim dies during the procedure. Intensive awareness campaigns and events have recently taken place, such as; Enditnow: In Kenya, Girls Say No To FGM and with Gambia’s 2nd ropping Of The Knife By Female Circumcisers.
According to the World Heath Organization (WHO) the number of girls who have been subject to FGM is “estimated at between 100 and 140 million” and that each year another 2 million are at risk. FGM can be the partial or full removal of the external genitalia. FGM can often be fatal, especially when done in none sanitary condition, and/or by non-medically trained persons, which can often cause excessive bleeding, transmission of disease, or shock. The complications and long term effects of FGM, can include; pain, infertility, difficulties in child birth, trouble with menstruation or urination, problems and extreme pain with intercourse, lack of sexual desire, no sexual stimulation, and mental illness.
The fight against FGM is truly a global fight, and while it may seem often that it is isolated primarily to Africa and the Middle East, however the issue of FGM has risen in western countries, such as the US, UK and other mainland European Nations. Therefore there has been a growing need to educate and advocate against FGM amongst immigrant populations in the west. Immigrants may often have a tendency to hold more tightly to traditions and customs, out of a sense of fear loosing their culture or social identity. Therefore the need for increased laws and enforcement is not isolated to countries with a history of the the traditional practice. Such can be noted by the example of France, where under French law FGM falls under Article 222 of the criminal code on violence, which can carry a prison sentences of up to 20 years for both those who preform the procedure and for parents.
Many countries where FGM has been common have passed laws to ban the practice, however laws have proven to be ineffective on their own, as often the practice is deeply rooted in the culture or history. Additionally laws prove futile without education and awareness, as many countries have discovered, only when its been at the high cost of death. Such as can be seen in the following posts; Egypt Makes Huge Strides in Putting an End to Female Circumcision and Girls Death in Burkina Faso Has Many Wondering If Laws are Enough!.
However many FGM related deaths never make it into the media, nor are they often reported. In Yemen, where FGM, which was banned in 2001 in private and public health facilities, by the Ministry of Health, is most often preformed on newborns; has left many FGM related deaths unreported. Thus the failure of laws alone to end the practice has led the government to seek additional strategies. Last year in Yemen the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood (SCMC), a government body moved to stem female genital mutilation (FGM). The plan to significantly reduce FGM by 2012 is a huge step in the eradication of FGM in the country, and could lead as an example for other countries fighting to truly end FGM in all forms.
While rates of FGM have fallen in many countries with significant use of the practice, the fight to end the practice is far from over and efforts must not only continue in countries where the practice has a long standing history, but also in the West as the fight for gender equality and an end to sexual violence is global and will not be won without a united. FGM must be clearly seen as a human rights violation, and not a one time instance of abuse. Therefore education and awareness on the long term effects must be put into place, as should laws be established that address the severity of the crime, and in doing so on a global scale we can begin to see the end of this extreme form of gender-based violence.
True laws are a vital step in the right direction to ending the practice of FGM once and for all, the banning of the practice alone is not enough to ensure the practice is abolished. Governments and NGO’s must work together with community leaders, on all levels, to see that the entire community is adequately educated on the full facts of FGM, and the long term effects it has on a girls mental and physical health. However glorious the win for laws and persecution of their violators, may seem, the reality has shown a huge societal failure in viewing that FGM is a one time persecution that ends once the cutting is over. For the women and girls who are victims of FGM the pain and torture of the procedure are far from a one time affair, and both the physical and mental scars can last a lifetime.es
So to answer the question; ‘yes, we are closer to an end for FGM’, however we still have significant strides and progress to go before we can see an end to the needless suffering and abuse of women and girls across the globe through the practice. Please see my previous posts on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)/Female Circumcision for more information and background on the issue. Please also see the World Health Organization (WHO) FGM Fact Sheet and The Female Genital Mutilation Education and Networking Project for more news and information on the long term consequences of FGM.
