Why announce female genital mutilation in Africa a criminal offense

The globally condemned repugnant practice of female genital mutilation has made victims of over 200 million women and girls all over the world of while 44 million are under 15 years of age.

Female genital mutilation is a ritual of cutting or removing some or almost all of the external female genitalia. Also known as female circumcision (in medical terms – clitoridectomy or clitorectomy), the practice, apart from Africa, is also found in Asia and the Middle East. Over 30 million girls are at risk of undergoing this severe painful circumcision in Africa in the next decade as their governments are failing to enforce laws to ban the internationally condemned practice.

Where it happens in Africa

The dominance of female genital mutilation practice in the African region is a critical social issue and Somalia is known for its prevalence of 98 percent till date. The other African countries like Guinea (96 percent), Djibouti (93 percent), Egypt (91 percent), Eritrea (89 percent), Mali (89 percent), Sierra Leone (88 percent) and Sudan (88 percent) also have severe prevalence of practicing female circumcision despite huge protest against it and global condemnation. The practice must be called barbaric as the patriarchs of some communities have always tried to control women’s sexuality and ideas about their purity, modesty, and beauty. Their centuries-old belief is based on the absurd idea that female circumcision must be performed by removing the clitoris or external female genitalia. Upon not doing so, the women will have insatiable sexual desire and can cause disharmony in society before or after marriage.

The complications of female circumcision

Let us prominently notify you that female genital mutilation is not tied to any specific religion, but it is restricted to some Christian and Islamic communities in some countries. However, it is not referred to in the Quran or the Bible. The process of circumcising the female genital parts having no medical reasons at all causes severe complications that include excessive bleeding, pain, swelling, urine retention, anemia, septicemia, tetanus, gangrene, necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease), endometritis, etc. The practitioners’ use of shared instruments (commonly use a blade or sharp-edged knife) is thought to aid the transmission of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV. The processes also put women at higher risk of problems during pregnancy and childbirth based on the type of circumcision they underwent earlier. Female circumcision often happens against a girl’s will without her consent, and girls may have to be forcibly restrained.

A few steps against this inhumane practice but not adequate

A recent update from The African Exponent claims that the Gambia, which is estimated to have already 76 percent of girls and women circumcised, is illegally confronting the commercialization of female genital mutilation. Although the process was outlawed in 2015, money is still being exchanged in a professional setting as both men and women consider it an important part of their traditional and cultural practices.

However, we frequently see some steps taken by the UN and sometimes African governments against female genital mutilation (commonly called FGM) in raising awareness through the campaign and many social activities. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is mounting a campaign to end the scourge of FGM and child-marriage by 2030, as revealed recently by Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNFPA Natalia Kanem in Ghana. Kanem was present at the opening of the Third China-Africa Conference on Population and Development in Ghana’s capital, Accra on Monday, June 24. Even UNFPA is also focussing on maximum availability of contraceptives to ensure the rapid decline of HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, family planning, and maternal mortality.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who served Liberia as the President from 2006 and 2018, is honored for signing an executive order outlawing FGM in January 2018 during the final hours of her resignation. However, the country has around 66 percent of genital circumcised women mainly from lower socio-economic backgrounds and the practice is still going on.

A few months back, a study revealed in BMJ Global Health that the East African countries have observed a drastic fall in the number of girls undergoing FGM or female circumcision. The study suggested that its prevalence in East Africa has fallen from 71.4 percent in 1995 to 8 percent in 2016. But the coordinator of UNFPA-UNICEF joint program, Nafissatou Diop said it was possible for those girls included in the study but they would still undergo FGM at a later in their teenage years. For example, the Somali community in Kenya practices FGM on girls aged 3-7, whereas the Maasai community prefers it between 12 and 14.

What can be done

First, the governments need to raise awareness through various mediums, conduct campaigns and target the young girls, school-college students, women and parents as their main audiences. They must be convinced about the violation of human rights, gender equality, disadvantages of FGM, chances of typical diseases that could even lead to death, complications after marriage and during childbirth, etc. Further, the governments must assist the human rights institutions in every way so that they can approach the people in their respective processes for generating awareness.

Secondly, education among girls and women should also increase so that they can also raise the voice against the barbaric practice of female circumcision. Illiteracy is the main curse to humanity that gives birth to a multitude of malpractices.

Thirdly, and most importantly, all the governments should outlaw FGM as early as possible. It should be announced ‘criminal offense’. As social acceptance is the most frequently cited reason for supporting the continuation of this practice, thus the law against it is mandatory with no other consideration.