KIRUKU: Frightful, Gruesome, Mad: Yes, thats what FGM really is

By Anne Kiruku, East African News Agency, Arusha, Tanzania

The World Female Genital Mutilation Day passed  uneventfully, with little pomp and colour for the day set aside to highlight the plight of over three million girls who undergo the “cut” every year. Across the world, more than 140 million women are living with the scars of this vice.

Hopes of seeing government officials at both national and local government levels join the FGM activists proved far-fetched. It is sad that the fight against this outdated practice has been relegated to the backburner. This has had devastating effects on millions of girls, with only a few activists left to counter the circumcision brigade.

There are shocking revelations that FGM is now being perpetrated with renewed vigour by medical staff who are freely doing so in their licensed clinics. Some religious groups are also supporting the vice and actively encouraging it. Government officials in the worst-affected areas have also been accused of indifference and even being lenient with perpetrators.

With these three groups – government officials, religious leaders and health professionals – seemingly throwing in the towel and joining backstreet quacks to advance this harmful practice, the problem is getting bigger and out of hand.

It is a shame that any qualified health worker, who understands the medical and psychological effects of cutting off the female genitalia, would freely participate in this practice for financial gain.

The law has been of little use due to the lack of sufficient monitoring and enforcement on the ground. Moreover, the law may not be the best instrument for changing strongly-held communal attitudes and beliefs.

But the role of bringing about change has sadly been left to non-governmental organisations, which mostly rely on donors to support their programmes. Governments in the region must now understand that formulating laws is insufficient and of no help to young girls in the affected communities. This being a rite of passage, there is strong communal pressure for compliance, and such girls have virtually no option if they are to be accepted in these communities.

It is known that village elders and government officials often form cartels that perpetuate the practice. Their lack of commitment, due to political and cultural loyalties as well as personal beliefs, has done more harm than good.

The devastating health effects of FGM cannot be overemphasized. The removal of or damage to healthy, normal genital tissue interferes with the natural functioning of the body and causes several immediate and long-term health consequences. For example, babies born to women who have undergone female genital mutilation are known to suffer a higher rate of neonatal deaths compared with babies born to women who have not undergone the procedure.

A lot of counselling and health education must be conducted among those communities who conduct FGM as a rite of passage so as to guide them on alternative forms of initiating girls into adulthood.

School teachers can be of great help in the fight against FGM since they are in daily contact with the girls and reside among the communities who practice the vice.

It is paramount to insist that FGM has no known health or religious benefits, and those who perpetuate the vice must be made to understand that it is a violation of the basic human rights of a child. These are fundamental human rights as enshrined in our national constitutions.

The outdated practice reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. If men were to change the narrative about women who have undergone this procedure, it would immediately become unfashionable.

Female genital mutilation is nearly always carried out on minors and is therefore a violation of the rights of the girl child and women in general. The practice also violates the rights to health, security and physical integrity of the person, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

Whatever it takes, our governments, NGOs, the media and religious organisations must join hands in fighting FGM, this being one of the main fortresses that must be brought down in the march toward gender equality.