Combating female genital mutilation lacks funding

August 13, 2011
The Portugal News Online


While terming the subject taboo, a group working with Guinean immigrants says female genital mutilation (FGM) exists among the community in Portugal.

Susana Piegas, of the Association of Guinean Immigrants and Friends of South Tagus, told Lusa News Agency the problem was “very present” in largely poor and immigrant communities, such as Vale da Amoreira, a Lisbon suburb.

Although no firm statistics could be ascertained, “the numbers are terrifying”, she said Saturday.

Piegas explained that not only had cases been identified in the community but that the mutilation itself was taking place in Portugal.

Members of the European campaign ‘End Female Genital Mutilation’, Amnesty International and the Portuguese Association for Family Planning have lamented the lack of funding and coordination targeting instances of this human rights abuse in Portugal.

Amnesty’s Ana Margarida Ferreira further identified the need for greater awareness by the state immigration services, that FGM itself represented grounds for political asylum.

This comes despite the government having presented its second “Zero Tolerance of FGM” last February that promised a “change in cultural values” and “strengthening preventive measures”.

The European Parliament has estimated that 500,000 women across the European Union have been subject to such mutilation with as many as 180,000 at risk annually.

Portugal ‘high risk’ for female circumcision

(from Portugal News Online)

14/2/2009

The World Health Organisation has classified Portugal as ‘high risk’ for practice of female genital mutilation due to the large number of immigrants from countries like Guinea-Bissau where the custom is widespread, an expert said this week.

Sandra Piedade, a research fellow at Lisbon’s state Higher Institute for Labour and Business Sciences (ISCTE), told the Lusa News Agency that although the issue of female circumcision in Portugal “is surrounded by secrecy” over ten percent of healthcare workers interviewed in a study said they have come across cases of young girls being mutilated.

Guinea-Bissau is the ex-Portuguese colony with the highest rate of female circumcision - at 45 percent of all women. Piedade said her study focused particularly on Guinean women in Portugal and their continued belief in the traditional practice, usually carried out on girls between five and 11 years.

There is a gap in Portuguese law in relation to female genital mutilation, said Piedade, calling for “more severe penalties” for practitioners of female circumcision in Portugal.

Victims need better medical and psychological support, the researcher added, and Portugal’s medical profession needs to gather more accurate data on increasing cases of female circumcision among Portugal’s immigrant communities. TPN/Lusa