Anti FGM bill to be tabled in Uganda's Parliament

June 23, 2009 Ultimate Media The Chairperson of the Parliamentary forum for Population and Food Security, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi has said he is ready to table a Private Members’ Bill to parliament for the elimination of Female Genital Mutilations. Dr. Baryomunsi says the practice of female circumcision which is practiced as custom in some Ugandan communities has been condemned by medical experts as dangerous. He says the bill will help put an end to Female circumcision or Female Genital Mutilations as a dehumanizing act against women and female children. Dr. Baryomunsi says the practice mainly among the Sabiny in Kapchorwa and Bukwo has no medical or social benefit for the women who are forced to undergo it. He says the MPs want expeditious action in the communities in Bikwo and Kapchowa to stop the practice of female circumcision since it has led to many health and social problems. Dr. Baromunsi says the bill which is ready is expected to be tabled and passed by end of 2009. Young girls among the Sabiny are circumcised as a cultural rite of passage into adulthood in functions that take place every December of an even year. While public campaigns and sensitizations against the practice has managed to bring about reductions in forced FGM, human rights activists say a law is important to completely outlaw the practice since it is against the human rights of women and girls. And her is the rest of it.