[dehai-news] (UN_IRIN) In-Depth: Razor's Edge - The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation


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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Sep 11 2008 - 12:31:57 EDT


"Hawa's Story

Hawa comes from Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa with a 90 percent
compliance rate, practising types 1, 2, and 3 FGM. She is from a community
that performs type 3 (infibulation). Hawa has lived in the United States
since the 1980s, when she fled political persecution in her homeland.

She is now a naturalised American citizen, holding a doctorate and teaching
at a University in the US, where she is a widely published and respected
scholar. Hawa is divorced from a fellow Eritrean and has one child, a
six-year-old girl.

She told IRIN of the devastating psychological effects she believes FGM has
had on her, commenting that although she retained the ability to experience
sexual pleasure, she experienced it in a distant, muted form. The act of sex
has never brought her enjoyment, and she believes this contributed to the
breakdown of her marriage.

However, when questioned about whether or not she would circumcise her
daughter, Hawa revealed an interesting ambivalence. Before she had borne a
child, she was clear that FGM was a terrible practice, which should be
eliminated. Today, as the single mother of a girl she is bringing up in
America, she has tempered her opposition to FGM somewhat.

Her concern comes from what she perceives as the highly sexualised community
in the US - everywhere there are images of sexual freedom and images that
objectify the role of women as sexual beings. Among the African American
community in particular, sexual freedom has been taken to an extreme in
which young girls often have children with more than one father. Inevitably,
their focus on achievement in other areas, such as education, career and so
on, is compromised. Many of these teenage mothers swell the ranks of the
welfare system.

Hawa wants everything for her daughter, and although she is not an
indigenous African American, she and especially her daughter, are perceived
as African American, and subject to many of the same pressures and
limitations. Further, she feels, the image of African Americans has been
glamorised in music, the media and film - "this community is probably the
most imitated by young people the world over".

In such an environment, the prospect of her daughter's full-blown sexuality
frightens Hawa. She sees it as a potential Achilles' heel, which could lead
her daughter down the path of low achievement, early pregnancy and welfare
dependence. Incredible as it may seem, Hawa is adamant that an FGM procedure
guaranteed to reduce her daughter's sexual urges to a shadow looks
attractive."

http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?IndepthId=15&ReportId=62462
In-Depth: Razor's Edge - The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation
AFRICA: When culture harms the girls - the globalisation of female genital
mutilation

 ETHIOPIA: More parents saying no to FGM

ADDIS ABABA, 11 September 2008 (IRIN) - Fewer Ethiopian parents are
subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM),
according to an NGO campaigning to eradicate the practice.

"The knowledge [that FGM is harmful] is increasing," said Abate Gudunfa,
head of the Ethiopian National Committee on Traditional Practices (commonly
referred to as EGLDAM - its name in Amharic]. "Children born more recently
are safer."

A network of 40 NGOs, including EGLDAM, the government and international
organisations, are involved in anti-FGM campaigns in Ethiopia. Policies have
also been reviewed to ensure participants are punished.

"Prevalence, especially among newly born children is decreasing - meaning
that more families have sufficient awareness and do not support this
practice anymore," Abate added.

A 2007 survey conducted by EGLDAM found that prevalence across the country
had dropped from 61 percent in 1997 to 46 percent.

Nine regions including Tigray, the Southern and Oromiya as well as two city
administrations namely the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, showed the
highest improvement.

Other regions recorded minimal change. "There is almost no decrease in Afar
and Somali [regions] - the strongholds of infibulation," the survey noted.

Assessing prevalence among various ethnic groups, EGLDAM found a decrease in
almost all. Some 29 groups reflected a 20 percent decline, of which 18 were
located in the Southern Region.

"Those ethnic groups ...should be considered real success areas and given
due attention as possible learning sites," EGLDAM said. "Six ethnic groups
show about or less than 10 percent decrease and should be considered as
groups of probable major resistance to change."

These included the Harari, Shinasha, Alaba and Hadia ethnic groups.

*Old tradition
*
Female circumcision is one of the 140 harmful traditions still commonly
practised in Ethiopia. Often female circumcision involves the removal of
part of the clitoris or the clitoris and all or some of the labia.

In some cases, genitalia are sewn up, leaving a small hole for urine and
blood to pass. When combined with excision, this is the most severe form of
FGM, according to experts.

In some communities, the girls are secluded for a month with their legs
bound together to immobilise them, as they wait for the bleeding to stop and
scar tissue to form.

FGM is carried out on girls as young as 80 days old, particularly in the
predominately Christian highlands, and up to 14 years of age in the lowland
Muslim regions. Some excisors use the same knife or razor blade on all their
victims, regardless of the danger of spreading infections.

Globally, an estimated two million girls are still at risk of undergoing FGM
each year. Activists say FGM is deeply entrenched in society despite various
efforts to stop it.

According to the Inter-African Committee, the practice is a serious health
issue affecting women, helping to spread HIV/AIDS and responsible for high
female mortality rates in Africa.

http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?IndepthId=15&ReportId=62462
In-Depth: Razor's Edge - The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation
AFRICA: When culture harms the girls - the globalisation of female genital
mutilation

(March 2005) - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a surgical procedure
performed on the genitals of girls and women in many parts of the world. The
term FGM covers a range of procedures, which are also referred to as female
circumcision and introcision.

FGM is found extensively in Africa and is also indigenous to other parts of
the world. The age and time at which FGM is practised differs from community
to community, and can be carried out from as early as a few days after
birth, to immediately after the birth of a woman's first child. One of the
notable trends in global FGM today is the progressive lowering of the age at
which girls undergo the practice.

Among communities that practise FGM, the procedure is a highly valued
ritual, whose purpose is to mark the transition from childhood to womanhood.
In these traditional societies, FGM represents part of the rites of passage
or initiation ceremonies intended to impart the skills and information a
woman will need to fulfil her duties as a wife and mother.

[See:
WEST AFRICA: Rejecting FGM not an affront to tradition
YEMEN: Eradicating FGM will be a slow process, experts say ]

The function of this practice, whether mild or severe, is ultimately to
reduce a woman's sexual desire, and so ensure her virginity until marriage.
The more extensive procedure, involving stitching of the vagina, has the
same aim, but reducing the size of the vagina is also intended to increase
the husband's enjoyment of the sexual act.

Discussions, conducted for the purposes of this report, with women who have
undergone the procedure, revealed that penetration was almost always
difficult and painful, even for the man, when women had undergone the more
extreme forms of FGM.

Certain communities carry out FGM for religious reasons, believing that
their faith requires it; this is particularly true of Muslims who adhere to
the practice. Other communities consider female genitalia to be ugly,
offensive or dirty, and thus the removal of the external genitalia makes a
woman more hygienic and aesthetically pleasing. Some subscribe to the notion
that FGM enhances a woman's fertility, and the chances of her children's
survival.

All members of communities practising FGM have a role in perpetuating it.
Families of girls or women who undergo FGM support it because it makes their
daughters marriageable - the operation ensures that their daughters will
have ready suitors and a satisfactory bride price.

In these communities, no eligible man would consider marrying a girl who has
not undergone the procedure, so FGM makes a woman culturally and socially
acceptable. It is in this important way that female genital mutilation is
supported and encouraged by men.

Women in the community have a role too, as it is they who arrange for and
perform the operation. Typically, the procedure is arranged by the mother or
grandmother and, in Africa, is usually performed by a traditional birth
attendant, a midwife, or a professional circumciser.

In communities practising FGM there is literally no place for a woman who
has not undergone the procedure. Such societies have sanctions, which are
brought to bear on the woman and her family, ensuring that the woman's
relatives enforce compliance. Other circumcised girls will no longer
associate with her. She is called derogatory names, and is often denied the
status and access to positions and roles that 'adult' women in that
community can occupy. Ultimately, an uncircumcised woman is considered to be
a child.

In traditional societies that offer women few options beyond being a wife
and a mother there is great pressure to conform. Women who lack the
education to seek other opportunities are doubly constrained in terms of the
choices open to them. These women also typically come from communities that
do not have alternatives to the traditional economy and modes of production,
such as farming, fishing or pastoralism.

Even educated women from such communities are often faced with the FGM
dilemma for themselves and their daughters. In Kenya, a female member of
parliament (MP) had to face her earlier decision not to be circumcised when
she made the choice many years later to run for public office. Her opponents
used the fact that she was not circumcised to challenge her eligibility to
hold a position that "only adults" could occupy. The MP's name is Linah
Kilimo and today she is a minister in Kenya's National Rainbow Coalition
government.

[See:
Mali:
Child marriage a neglected problem
Senegal:
FGM continues 10 years after villagers claim to abandon it
Girl's death prompts search for new strategies to fight FGM
Somalia
IRIN Radio Report - Circumcising girls ]

FGM in a Global Society

In the modern world few places exist in isolation, untouched by other
cultures. The creation of nation states, which brought together many
communities within common borders, as well as the forces of globalisation,
have contributed to the blurring of boundaries in all societies.

Institutions that bring new norms in religion, national policy and
legislation, and on a more individual level, education and intermarriage,
create new options for societies. Sociocultural clashes arise as
communities, ideas and cultures attempt to blend.

The dilemma facing people in this newly globalised world is showcased by the
experience of one Senegalese couple. The woman, from a non-circumcising
community, married into a society whose FGM prevalence was 70 percent. From
the outset, the couple agreed that they would not circumcise their two
daughters. The man's family, however, was insistent that the girls undergo
the ritual and, realizing that this was no idle threat, the couple barred
their daughters from visiting the man's family unescorted, lest the girls be
forcefully abducted and cut, as is common when parents reject the practice.
An additional, chilling threat awaited the wife - her sisters-in-law vowed
that though she remained uncircumcised in life, they would circumcise her in
death.

Different Forms of FGM

1. Type I (commonly referred to as clitoridectomy)

Excision (removal) of the clitoral hood, with or without removal of all or
part of the clitoris.

2. Type II (commonly referred to as excision)

Excision (removal) of the clitoris, together with part or all of the labia
minora (the inner vaginal lips). This is the most widely practised form.

3. Type III (commonly referred to as infibulation)

Excision (removal) of part or all of the external genitalia (clitoris, labia
minora and labia majora), and stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening,
leaving a very small opening, about the size of a matchstick, to allow for
the flow of urine and menstrual blood. Also known as pharaonic circumcision.

4. Type IV (Unclassified/Introcision)

Pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia:

• Stretching the clitoris and/or labia
• Cauterisation by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissues
• Scraping of the vaginal orifice or cutting of the vagina
• Introduction of corrosive substances into the vagina to cause bleeding, or
introduction of herbs into the vagina to tighten or narrow it
• Any other procedure that falls under the definition of female genital
mutilation

Type 1 and type 2 operations account for 85 percent of all FGM. Type 3 is
common in Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and parts of Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali
, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. Type 3, also known as pharaonic
circumcision, is extremely severe and involves binding a woman's legs for
approximately 40 days to allow for the formation of scar tissue. Many of
these communities use adhesive substances such as sugar, eggs, and even
animal waste on the wound to enable it to heal.

The excisor often has to reopen the vagina to allow for easier childbirth,
and then re-stitch it after birth, leaving it as small as before, or
slightly larger to reduce painful intercourse. Frequently the excisor is
called on a girl's wedding night to open her up so she is able to consummate
her marriage.

Health complications associated with FGM

Although it is widely known that FGM can have devastating and harmful
consequences for a woman throughout her life, because most communities
practising it are very poor and do not have access to modern health
facilities, medical emergencies arising from FGM are common, and often lead
to death.

[See: BURKINA FASO: Girl's death prompts search for new strategies to fight
FGM ]

A doctor from the Fistula Hospital talks about the immediate and the long
term health consequences of FGM.
Credit: IRIN

It is difficult to determine the actual numbers of women who die from
FGM-related complications, given the highly guarded nature of the practice.
Medical record-keeping systems are also rarely configured to record FGM and
FGM-related complications as causes of death.

The health problems a girl can experience are largely dependent on three
factors.

First, the severity of the procedure: girls and women who undergo type II
and type III are likely to experience more severe health complications, but
health consequences for type I have also been widely reported.

Discussions with a doctor on the possible medical effects of type I FGM
found that complications were most evident during childbirth, due to the
reduced elasticity of the vagina caused by scar tissue formed as a result of
the surgery. To compensate for the reduced elasticity during childbirth,
tiny tears are caused around the vagina. These are too small to stitch, and
end up forming more scar tissue, compromising the vagina's elasticity even
further. Labour becomes longer and more painful with each subsequent birth.
The tears themselves predispose the woman to infection, while her ability to
experience sexual satisfaction is undermined, as the tearing leads to an
ever-loosening vagina.

Second, the sanitary conditions in which the procedure is performed, and the
competence of the person who performs it: most circumcisers are
professionals with years of experience, but the tools and sanitary
conditions of their trade are often rudimentary at best, with knife-like
implements or razor blades used as the basic surgical instruments.

Close adherence to traditions that dictate what type of instrument is
suitable do not allow for innovation, or the adoption of new, more suitable
instruments that may be available. Typically, the circumcision ceremony
takes place once a year and all eligible girls within a community are cut on
the same day, using the same instrument - without the benefit of
sterilisation between procedures - thus increasing the chances of infection,
and the risk of exposure through such practices to HIV/AIDS.

Third, the health of the girl or woman undergoing the procedure, and her
ability to heal and resist infection passed on by the procedure, is
critical: if a woman is prone to infection, or has a poor immune system, she
has a greater chance of becoming infected. Literally, only the strong
survive.

The secret nature of FGM poses a great threat to the health of girls and
women who undergo it. It is highly confidential, and outsiders are strictly
prohibited from having any contact with the girls and women during and after
the ceremony. Therefore, most of them have no access to a medical
professional, should they need one during or after the procedure.

The 40-day isolation that characterises type III FGM, for example, means a
woman might die of infection before she ever gets the chance to receive
proper medical care. When qualified medical personnel perform FGM in the
sanitary conditions of a hospital, the risk of infection may be reduced, but
the long-term consequences remain.

Some immediate physical problems resulting from FGM are:

1. Bleeding (often haemorrhaging from rupture of the blood vessels of the
clitoris), sometimes leading to death

2. Post-operative shock

3. Damage to other organs, resulting from the lack of surgical expertise of
the person performing the procedure, and the aggressive resistance of the
patient when anaesthesia is not used

4. Infections, including tetanus and septicaemia, through using unsterilised
or poorly disinfected equipment

5. Urine retention caused by swelling and inflammation

Some longer-term consequences include:

1. Chronic infections of the bladder and vagina:

- in Type III, the urine and menstrual blood can only leave the body drop by
drop
- the build-up inside the abdomen and fluid retention often cause infections
and inflammation that can lead to infertility
- infections and inflammation that can lead to infertility

2. Dysmenorrhoea, or extremely painful menstruation

3. Excessive scar tissue at the site of the operation

4. Formation of cysts on the stitch line

5. Childbirth obstruction, which can result in:

- the development of fistulas
- tearing of the vaginal and/or bladder wall
- chronic incontinence

6. Risk of HIV infection. (There is a growing speculation of a potential
risk of HIV/AIDS associated with the procedure, especially when the same
unsterilised instruments are used on multiple girls, but this has yet to be
scientifically proven.)

[See: UGANDA: FGM among the Pokot heightens HIV risk ]

7. Reinfibulation must be performed each time a child is born. When
infibulation (Type III) is performed, the opening left in the genital area
is too small for the head of a baby to pass through. Failure to reopen this
area can lead to death or brain damage of the baby, and death of the mother.
The excisor must reopen the mother and re-stitch her again after the birth.
In most ethnic groups the woman is re-stitched as before, leaving the same
tiny opening. In other ethnic groups the opening is left slightly larger to
reduce painful intercourse. (In most cases, not only must the woman be
reopened for each childbirth, but also on her wedding night, when the
excisor may have to be called in to open her so she can consummate the
marriage.)

All female family members of girls who will undergo FGM are present at the
ceremony. In Sierra Leone, the majority of women practise FGM through secret
societies.
Credit: IRIN

There is a dearth of scientific studies on the psychological effects of FGM
on girls and women. In the course of conducting research for this study,
discussions were held with some women who had undergone one or other form of
FGM. This information does not claim to be scientific, nor is it a
substitute for a scientific approach, but it does begin to provide some
insights on the possible psychological impact of FGM on survivors.

Some of the psychological impacts of FGM appear to be pavlovian in nature
and effect:

- women who have undergone any form of FGM or its attendant painful rituals
are so traumatized that they can only associate their genitals with pain and
possible death from childbirth, of which there is always a much higher
possibility than with uncircumcised women
- the idea of sexual intercourse as a pleasurable activity is inconceivable
for most of them

The complexity of the psychological effects of FGM on women is demonstrated
by the stories of Jane and Hawa, who underwent type 2 (excision) and type 3
(infibulation) FGM respectively.

Jane's Story

Jane comes from a community in Kenya which practises type II FGM (excision),
where the compliance rate is 97 percent. She is from an educated family and
has a PhD. Her husband is equally highly educated. They have two children.

According to the customs of her community, Jane underwent the procedure at
the age of 14. She discussed how sex had always been an unpleasant chore for
her, and although she no longer experiences any pain, she has no sexual
response and sex has no meaning for her.

Jane also spoke of the difficult childbirth she experienced, which she
attributes to the circumcision. She is grateful to have an understanding
husband who does not demand more than the two children they have. Her
experiences convinced both her and her husband that their daughter must not
go through the procedure.

Hawa's Story

Hawa comes from Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa with a 90 percent
compliance rate, practising types 1, 2, and 3 FGM. She is from a community
that performs type 3 (infibulation). Hawa has lived in the United States
since the 1980s, when she fled political persecution in her homeland.

She is now a naturalised American citizen, holding a doctorate and teaching
at a University in the US, where she is a widely published and respected
scholar. Hawa is divorced from a fellow Eritrean and has one child, a
six-year-old girl.

She told IRIN of the devastating psychological effects she believes FGM has
had on her, commenting that although she retained the ability to experience
sexual pleasure, she experienced it in a distant, muted form. The act of sex
has never brought her enjoyment, and she believes this contributed to the
breakdown of her marriage.

However, when questioned about whether or not she would circumcise her
daughter, Hawa revealed an interesting ambivalence. Before she had borne a
child, she was clear that FGM was a terrible practice, which should be
eliminated. Today, as the single mother of a girl she is bringing up in
America, she has tempered her opposition to FGM somewhat.

Her concern comes from what she perceives as the highly sexualised community
in the US - everywhere there are images of sexual freedom and images that
objectify the role of women as sexual beings. Among the African American
community in particular, sexual freedom has been taken to an extreme in
which young girls often have children with more than one father. Inevitably,
their focus on achievement in other areas, such as education, career and so
on, is compromised. Many of these teenage mothers swell the ranks of the
welfare system.

Hawa wants everything for her daughter, and although she is not an
indigenous African American, she and especially her daughter, are perceived
as African American, and subject to many of the same pressures and
limitations. Further, she feels, the image of African Americans has been
glamorised in music, the media and film - "this community is probably the
most imitated by young people the world over".

In such an environment, the prospect of her daughter's full-blown sexuality
frightens Hawa. She sees it as a potential Achilles' heel, which could lead
her daughter down the path of low achievement, early pregnancy and welfare
dependence. Incredible as it may seem, Hawa is adamant that an FGM procedure
guaranteed to reduce her daughter's sexual urges to a shadow looks
attractive.

FGM and Religion

FGM is often associated with Islam, and there are people who believe that
Islam sanctions it. The fact that type I is also called the 'Sunna'
procedure (meaning 'following the Prophet's tradition') is often used as
evidence for this contention. However, it is found among both Muslim and
Christian populations, and is a cultural practice that predates both
religions. Type 3, or 'infibulation', also known in Sudan and Ethiopia as
the 'pharaonic procedure', was most likely practised in ancient Egypt.

Prevalence of FGM

An Ethiopian girl in a meeting organised an NGO campaigning against FGM. She
is worried because she doesn't know how she will get a husband if she
refuses to be circumcised.
Credit: IRIN

FGM is most widely practised on the African continent. It is found among
more than half the communities in sub-Saharan African countries and in at
least 26 out of 43 countries. The prevalence ranges from 98 percent in
Somalia to 5 percent in Zaire. It is also indigenous to some Middle-Eastern
countries, including Egypt, the Republic of Yemen (primarily coastal areas),
Oman (in limited numbers throughout the country but more widespread in the
southern coastal region), Saudi Arabia (among a few immigrant women and some
Bedouin tribes and residents of the Hejaz) and Israel (among a very small
number of women in a few Bedouin groups in the south).

FGM is also found among some Muslim groups in Indonesia, where the most
common form is type IV, also known as 'incision'. This involves some form of
symbolic pricking, scraping or touching of the clitoris. In Malaysia, among
a very small number of Muslims in rural areas, the procedure carried out is
much more ritualistic. It includes a symbolic prick, a tiny ritual cut to
the clitoris, or a blade being brought close to the clitoris.

In Pakistan the Bohra Muslims in the largest cities of Sindh and Punjab
provinces also perform FGM.

Introcision is also practised in several other countries around the world.
In Peru it is found among the Conibos, a division of the Pano Indians in the
northeast, and has also been reported in Australia among the Pitta-Patta
Aborigines.

FGM is also increasingly found in North America, Europe, New Zealand and
Australia, owing to the large immigrant communities living in those parts of
the world.

[See: EGYPT: Long battle ahead to end female circumcision ]

The International response to FGM

The international community is identifying FGM more and more as a harmful
traditional practice, and a violation of the fundamental human rights of
girls and women. Global efforts to bring an end to the custom of female
genital cutting are increasing, with many nations putting in place
legislation against the practice, and a number of international
organisations making the elimination of FGM a priority. The United Nations
has designated 8 February as the "International Day of Zero Tolerance of
Female Genital Mutilation".

[See:
AFRICA: End female genital mutilation - African Union
GLOBAL: Long way to go in fight against FGM - UN
YEMEN: Government urged to tackle human rights concerns ]

Legislation against FGM

In Africa, thirteen countries have responded to the problem of FGM by
implementing legislation against it: According to "Center for Reproductive
Rights" there are 16 countries with criminal legislation against FGM:
www.crlp.org
Benin (2003 = the date legislation was implemented), Burkina Faso (1996),
Central African Republic (1966), Chad (2003), Cτte d'Ivoire (1998), Djibouti
(1994), Egypt (Ministerial Decree, 1996), Ethiopia (2004), Ghana (1994),
Guinea (1965), Kenya (2001), Niger (2003), Senegal (1999), Tanzania (1998),
Togo (1998), Nigeria (multiple states, 1999-2002).

There have been reports of prosecutions or arrests in cases involving FGM in
various African countries, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya,
Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Ten industrialised countries that receive immigrants from countries where
FGM is practised have also passed specific laws criminalising the practice:
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the
United Kingdom, and the United States. In Australia, six out of eight states
have passed laws against FGM. In the United States, the federal government
and 16 states have criminalised it. In France, existing legislation has been
used to prosecute FGM practitioners and parents procuring the service for
their daughters.

Some countries, such as the US, recognise forced FGM as a basis for asylum.
In 1996, Fauziya Kassindja became the first woman to win asylum in the US on
the grounds that she would be subjected to FGM if deported to her native
Nigeria. However, a heavy burden of proof is placed on women seeking asylum
on the basis of FGM or gender-based persecution.

Anti-FGM laws have been applied in various countries, as described in the
cases below, but a full analysis of the legislation against FGM is explored
in a subsequent article in this Web Special report.

[See:
UGANDA: Women petition court to outlaw FGM
ERITREA: Government outlaws female genital mutilation
GUINEA-BISSAU: Proposed law could outlaw female genital mutilation
EGYPT: Rights bodies urge laws against FGM ]

Kenya
Two teenage girls secured a landmark ruling on 13 December 2000, when a
magistrate's court issued a permanent injunction barring their father from
having them circumcised.

The United States of America
In 2003 a southern California couple was arraigned in a Los Angeles federal
court to answer charges of conspiring to circumcise two female minors. This
was the first time the law had been applied in the US.

France
In 1993 a medical practitioner was charged with performing female
circumcision, with the full knowledge that the practise was illegal. He was
found guilty and can no longer practise his profession.

FGM and international organisations

International organisations have highlighted the dangers of FGM and thrown
their weight behind the cause for eradicating the practice.

The UN's Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, held in
September 1995, recognised FGM as a harmful traditional practice against
women and girls.

The International Conference on Population and Development, in Cairo in
September 1994, condemned FGM as a harmful practice, and encouraged
governments not only to prohibit it but also to give their support to NGOs
and religious institutions working to eliminate the practice.

The World Conference on Human Rights, in Vienna in 1993, addressed FGM as a
violation of women's rights.

Alternative Rites to FGM

More recently, an 'alternative rites' strategy is being used by NGOs in
FGM-practicing communities. This strategy is intended to retain the rites of
passage or initiation that the girls would traditionally undergo, with the
exception of FGM. The girls are still encouraged to learn what it means to
be a woman in their respective communities, but do not have to endure the
agony of the cut. This procedure is being tested in several communities
around the world and has registered some success.

However, alternative rites have also faced serious opposition, and even led
to lowering of the age at which FGM is practised in certain communities. The
Maasai of Kenya, for example, responded to aggressive anti-FGM campaigns by
cutting girls as young as four, rather than teenage girls.

Conclusion

FGM is a practice that violates the basic human rights of women and girls
and seriously compromises their health. Nevertheless, among communities that
practise FGM it is a highly valued tradition, making eradication difficult.

Nevertheless, there are also success stories. As individuals become better
informed about the negative impacts of FGM, there has been a reduction in
the practice and today there are few communities in which 100 percent of
girls and women are circumcised.

[See:
ETHIOPIA: Female circumcision declines in southern region
KENYA: Religious leaders join anti-FGM fight
ERITREA: Campaign against FGM 'is working'
TANZANIA: FGM on the decline, study shows
SENEGAL: Villages vow to stop cutting girls ]

Local organisations are working to eradicate the custom in many communities,
and are achieving a higher level of success because they are able to
communicate more easily with the people, whereas foreigners may appear to be
ignorantly judging their traditions.

[See:
AFRICA : Joining the fight against gender-based violence
ERITREA: Renewed efforts to outlaw female genital mutilation
SOMALIA: Community involvement key to ending FGM in Somalia - UNICEF
EGYPT: Focus on efforts to stop FGM ]

Over the last two decades, many countries have designed legal frameworks
that criminalise FGM and protect women and girls who challenge the status
quo, forcing those who continue to advocate it to reconsider their position
and actions. In many cases, communities have fully or partially abandoned
the practice in favour of non-FGM initiation ceremonies.

[ENDS]

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