FGM "Difficult to Eliminate"

December 6, 2010
Daily News: Tanzania's Leading Online News Edition
Sosthenes Mwita


Despite government efforts to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) the practice continues in a shroud of secrecy mainly in Mara, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Singida and Manyara regions where adult women and children aged between six and 20 years undergo the harmful ritual.

Although there are sustained sensitization efforts and legal curbs that aim at eradicating the practice, incisors (ngariba) are still at work, mutilating children and women secretly. A recent survey shows that the “diabolical” practice is mainly prevalent in ten regions on the Mainland.

The report says the prevalence of FGM in Arusha and Manyara regions stands at 81 per cent. In Dodoma 68 per cent of women are mutilated while in Mara the rate is 44 per cent; Kilimanjaro (37 per cent); Iringa (27 per cent); Singida (25 per cent); Tanga (25 per cent) and Morogoro (20 per cent).  Dar es Salaam appears to have the smallest rate at 5.4 per cent.

An anti-FGM activist, who wished to remain anonymous, said in Dar es Salaam at the weekend that the anti-FGM crusade has made headway so far in sensitizing elders in tribal settings to shun the harmful ritual. She said a significant number of incisors in Dodoma, Singida, Ruvuma and Manyara have come forward to surrender their tools of the trade.

She said, however, that despite the vigorous anti-FGM effort, which has made successful inroads into the ritual, some incisors now mutilate day-old babies secretly.

"Ninety- eight incisors in Manyara Region have already laid down their tools.
This is a welcome development," she said.

She mentioned other regions where incisors have given up their trade as Dodoma (83), Singida (96) and Ruvuma (202). It is suggested in the report that communities must look for alternative methods of marking the passage of girls to womanhood (unyago).

"You do not have to mutilate a girl to get her to graduate into adulthood. Exposure to societal norms and ideals also groom girls into upright adults."

AFNET, the non- government organization that fights Female Genital Mutilation countrywide, has succeeded in reducing the harmful practice in Dodoma Region by over 90 per cent after changing the mindsets of parents, incisors and tribal elders.

The National AFNET chairperson, Ms Stella Mwaga, said this recently at a Wagogo tribal ritual during which the passing of 30 teenagers from childhood to adulthood was affected without them undergoing FGM. The training, which also involved nine boys, is an improved version of the traditional ìjandoî and ìunyagoî which normally culminates in the circumcision of the boys and the genital mutilation of the girls. After the training 30 graduates would now grow up into responsible adults and healthy parents.

The girls, who will now not be mutilated, will in turn spare their own daughters from mutilation. However, the boys would be circumcised but their ritual would be handled by trained health workers not the traditional incisors who use crude blades exposing the initiates to health hazards that include HIV/AIDS and septic wounds.

Ms Mwaga said that apart from enlightening the teenagers on the traditional tenets of good parenthood, they also know how best to maintain married life. The initiates were also enlightened of the ill effects of borrowed foreign cultures, moral decay and how best to get along with communal living.

The teenagers have also been exposed to simple health requirements, simple communal and national laws; the good virtues of working hard; respect and attentive listening to school teachers and elders and simple skills such as weaving and bricklaying. The lessons also included an insight into the ill-effects narcotic drugs and parental health with stress on pregnancy complications.

Ms Mwaga was hopeful that the female initiates would not be genitally mutilated after attending the new-look “unyago.” One of the initiates, Ms Loi Nyamunga (13), said her traditional teacher (mkungwi), had trained her group (of girls) to be responsible mothers in future.

The group was also enlightened on the ravages of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS. In Dodoma Region the practice is known as "kugotolwa" among the Wagogo. “Here, the ritual marks the passing of a young girl from childhood to womanhood,” the report says. The ritual is also seen as a preventive measure or a cure against an imaginary disease known as"lawalawa".

In Mara Region, where the Wakurya refer to the practice as "esaro", and in Arusha where the Maasai know it as emorata, the reasons for the ritual do not differ from those advanced by the Wagogo, although here it is also designed to shoot down sexual desires.

So, in Dodoma and Singida women are mutilated on the pretext that the practice fends off "lawalawa". In fact, investigation by medical experts has shown that such a disease does not exist.

Lawalawa is a myth and an excuse to validate FGM among backward tribal settings. It has been established that what is believed to be "lawalawa" is actually a minor medical complication caused by improper cleaning of the genitals and any “uncircumcised" woman who develops thrush and an itchy feeling in her genitals is believed to have "lawalawa,” the report says.

Medical doctors say that the so-called “lawalawa” is thrush that is normally caused by dirt. It is an infection that can be prevented by cleanliness of genitalia and cured in hospitals by administration of antibiotics. “It is, indeed, a shame for any woman to allow scum to accumulate and cause thrush.” Farther afield, in African settings, women are subjected to female genital mutilation in most tribal settings because they are likely to bring shame to their families.

On the continental front, various forms of FGM are carried out in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti, Mauritania, Nigeria and Mali.

Female Genital Mutilation: Kenya

December 6, 2010
Hope, Anger, Courage: Raising Awareness & Voices for the Women of the DRC
Fardosa Muse


CARE’s Assistant Gender Officer in Kenya, Fardosa Muse, describes her efforts to discover more about the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.


The Somali community is one of the groups which practices Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
on a large scale in Kenya. FGM is done for religious reasons, often without a girl’s consent, to curb their sexual desire and to preserve their sexual honor before marriage. FGM is irreversible and extremely painful, but it is deeply rooted in social, cultural, and traditional practices, and therefore difficult to combat. Yes, attempts have been made by international and local groups to stop the practice, but FGM is ingrained in peoples’ beliefs and traditions. In an effort to explore FGM, I traveled into the Dadaab refugee camps. 


During a discussion with a senior ex-circumciser, a girl was brought for circumcision by her immediate family members. I tried to ask the girl about her situation, but the relatives intervened when they realized I was a gender officer working with CARE International inKenya. The mother of the girl pleaded with me to leave for fear of victimization and notification of law enforcement officials.


I asked the mother of the girl how safe her daughter was from infection and other complications that arise from FGM. She responded that it’s a historical practice and that they have never had any problems related to it. I explained that many women have died from complications due to FGM, causing untold grief to their loved ones.


Later, on my way back to the office, in the adjacent blocks, I came across a group of women and girls weaving baskets. I asked to speak with them, and presented my personal story as a victim of FGM to bring up the topic.


As we were speaking, Halima, a 24-year-old mother of two, passed by, joined us, and told of her experience with FGM: “I have been in pain ever since and keep attending hospital with back pain and kidney problem. There is no single night I have gone to bed with comfort, unable to put my feet to the ground because of fistula operations. I have been subjected to this outdated practice due to strong belief of my grandmother on FGM.”


Halima’s story moved me to tears.  I could only entreat her not to allow such a gruesome act to be performed on her own children in the future.  In fact, Halima’s father saw circumcision as unacceptable, but he was overruled and deemed disrespectful to his mother in-law. "The dispute almost led to our family breakdown.  It was only saved when elders forced my father to apologise to my grandmother in accordance with the Somali culture, and warned him not to meddle in 'women affairs.’ I had no idea that it was such a horrible and traumatising process. It still lingers in my mind today.  I shed tears when remember how I had to drop out of school due to incontinence, pain, trauma and  low self-esteem from with FGM."


To help end FGM practices please visit CARE and support their work around the world.

Amid Doubts Over Egypt's Progress, Minister Urges UN to Ban FGM

December 6, 2010
AlMasryAlyoum 
Ahmed Zaki Osman

Egypt’s Minister of Family and Population Moushira Khattab said on Saturday that Egypt is seeking international support in order to urge the UN General Assembly to issue a resolution banning female genital mutilation (FGM).

Khattab said in a press release that Egypt had managed to mobilize international public opinion in condemning this "inhumane practice".

Last November, Khattab was among 42 internationally acclaimed parliamentarians, political leaders and civil society activists who signed a petition calling upon the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution banning FGM worldwide.

The list of the signatories include Nobel laureates Nadime Gordimer, Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi and Martty Ahtisaari as well as number of African first ladies.

FGM is a practice that is very common in some African countries. In Egypt, official figures claim that nine out of every ten Egyptian women have undergone FGM.

Egypt criminalized the practice in 2008 following the death of a 12-year-old girl. However, human rights activists say that it is still being practiced despite the law.

Mona Ezzat from the New Woman Foundation--an advocacy group for women's rights--told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Egypt’s women are being seriously damaged by FGM and the government's steps to fight the harmful practice is not having sufficient results.

"They [the government] go and advertise the fact that Egypt is combating FGM but the reality is that the Ministry of Family and Population is not adopting a fruitful strategy," said Ezzat. "The problem is that we need a cultural change in terms of shifting the society's perspective towards women."

The ministry launched a project in different villages across Egypt to combat FGM, however "people in these villages are still conducting FGM and doctors still believe that it is good for the morals and ethics of women," argued Ezzat, who concluded that "the ministry’s approach is based on religious teachings that might be understood as a reason for banning the practice, but a religious approach is not sufficient since it sometimes fails to convince highly conservative regions in Egypt, such the southern part."

Anti-FGM Drive Finally Begins Bearing Fruit

December 6, 2010
The East African
Kevin Kelley

Community-focused initiatives are proving effective in reducing the incidence of female genital cutting in Kenya and a few other African countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) says in a new report.

Efforts that address cultural and social dimensions of the practice have yielded better results than have blanket condemnations or appeals aimed at individuals, Unicef finds.

The report cites an eight-year-old project in Mosocho in Kisii Central District as having created “a safe environment that supports individuals to make their own decisions to abandon [female genital cutting], free from judgment and social pressure.”

Organisers have sought to involve all segments of the Mosocho community in the project, with emphasis on participation by boys and men.

In 2005, Unicef notes, almost 50 former practitioners taking part in the German-sponsored project took an oath promising never to cut girls again.

The practice had been “almost universal” among the Kisii, and was usually performed on girls between the ages of three and eight, the report says.

About 98 per cent of ethnic Somali girls in Kenya also undergo genital cutting, but among other groups, such as the Luo and Luhya, it is done rarely or not at all, Unicef observes.

“Prevalence rates, type of cutting and age of cutting vary significantly” in Kenya, the report adds. It attributes the differences to “the range of cultural traditions and diversity found within Kenya’s numerous ethnic groups.”

Overall, 27 per cent of Kenyan females ages 15 to 49 have undergone some form of the cut, the report says, citing data from the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.

That proportion is the lowest among five African countries. In Senegal, 28 per cent of women in the same age group have been cut, with the figure for Egypt put at 91 per cent, for Ethiopia 74 per cent and for Sudan 89 per cent.

Efforts to discourage female genital cutting began in Kenya more than a century ago, the report notes. It says Christian missionaries denounced as “barbaric” a practice that came to be banned by colonial authorities.

The prohibition triggered cultural and nationalist resistance, however, which sharply limited its impact.

“Medical complications related to the practice are at times not brought to the attention of health services for fear of prosecution,” the report says.

“Furthermore, the trend towards fewer public ceremonies has led to concerns that the practice has been driven underground.”

Unicef makes clear its commitment to helping put an end to female genital cutting, which it also defines as a form of mutilation.

But Gordon Alexander, the director of the organisation’s research unit, acknowledges “there is no one answer, no one way, and no quick fix.”

Pointing to initiatives such as the Mosocho project in Kenya, he adds, “These efforts need to be scaled up to bring change.”

Government Says 41 Percent of Kurdish Women are Circumcised

December 2, 2010
Rudaw 

Ari Osman

ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan: A survey by the Kurdistan Minstiry of Health shows that 41 percent of women have gone under the practise of female genuital mutilation (FGM). 

The survey was carried out in July this year. The results of the survey were announced during a campaign to raise awareness on violence against women in Kurdistan earlier this week. 

Part of the campaign has focused on FGM. The survey by the government shows that mothers are the main party responsible for forcing their daughters experience the painful ritual and then grandmothers and fathers. 

The survey’s results show that none of the participants in Dohuk, Kurdistan’s smallest of the three provinces, were circumcised while the highest rate of FGM was in Sulaimai.

Erbil, Kurdistan region's capital, came between Sulaimani and Dohuk. According to the survey, most of the women were circumcised while they were under five years old. 

Jamil Ali Rashid, the director general of health affairs at the ministry of health, said “the survey’s results are totally correct and credible because the participants were given clear questions and special teams examined the women who participated in the survey after their consent was secured.” 

A campaign to end FGM practices in Kurdistan was launched in February 2010 by 51 non-governmental organizations.

Banning the Cutting Up

December 2, 2010
Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
Reem Leila 


Egypt signed an appeal to be presented to the UN to ban female genital mutilation worldwide.


An estimated three million females are cut each year on the African continent (Sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and Sudan). Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is becoming a global problem. Not only is FGM practised among communities in Africa and the Middle East, but with increased population movements and migration, it is also an issue in immigrant communities throughout the world.

But at the same time, never before has the global community had such a refined understanding of why FGM persists. Factors perpetuating the practice include a woman's status, chastity, health, beauty and family honour. Accordingly, Egypt has joined a campaign for a worldwide ban on FGM, aiming to promote the adoption of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly banning this widespread and systematic human rights violation before the end of 2010.

On 24 November Egypt joined international human rights activists to appeal to the UN to pass a ban on FGM. Appeal signatories are asking that FGM be condemned and recognised as a violation of the human right to physical integrity. A UN ban would give new strength and impetus to the efforts that are still needed to end the practice worldwide.

Minister of State for Family and Population Mushira Khattab, who signed the appeal on behalf of Egypt, said the move was directed mainly at the 65th session of the General Assembly which will convene later this month. The global launch, according to Khattab, will provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and commitment in fighting FGM. It will also constitute the occasion for a major involvement of the international community to support the partnership strategy plan to end FGM in 2010, as part of the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"I'm positive that in 20 years and perhaps earlier not a single newborn girl will be circumcised," Khattab said.

According to Khattab, "our work is to inform and raise awareness among member states, UN agencies and more widely among our fellow human rights activists about FGM and about the pivotal role that the UN General Assembly has in combating this human rights violation by banning it worldwide."

The overall number of countries which signed the appeal is 45 including the US, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Uganda, Benin, South Africa, Sudan, Italy, Sierra Leone, Togo and the Netherlands. The number of countries expected to sign is likely to double within the next few days.

The tradition of FGM is deeply entrenched in many national, regional and international societies. A plan to fight FGM implemented by the Ministry of State for Family and Population has gone into action across Egypt's governorates, with special emphasis on southern Egypt.

FGM operations are carried out in 26 African and Arab countries, among them Egypt, Sudan and Yemen, which exported a practice deemed to protect the honour of girls.

Neither Islam nor Christianity allows such a painful practice. Both religions honour females and preserve their human rights. Yet, 80 per cent of the poor and 30 per cent of wealthy Egyptian families subject their girls to FGM. The practice is considered by many people as necessary to tame a female's sexual desires and maintain her honour.

In 2005, Egypt witnessed the declaration of its first document rejecting female genital mutilation prevalent in villages, and which was adopted by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood's (NCCM) national programme under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak.

In 2007 the Health Ministry issued Decree 271 banning all doctors and nurses from carrying out any FGM operations at any ministry hospital or private clinic.

Abdel-Rahman Shahin, official spokesman at the Health Ministry, said the ministerial decree stipulates that whoever commits such a violation will be subject to having his/her private clinic shut down and possibly undergoing a professional investigation at the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate which could result in suspension from practicing medicine for up to five years.

FGM is an extremely traumatic operation which is practised on females between four and 14 years of age for cultural reasons. FGM, which usually results in urine retention, inflammation of the genitals, injury to adjacent tissues, septicemia and infertility, has multiple side-effects. These include shock, haemorrhage and infections which could be potentially fatal.

Khattab hopes the world would join the appeal to take all legal steps against anyone or any country which practises FGM.

"FGM violates human rights due to its serious health risks and life-threatening circumstances," Khattab added.

Ugandan Women Flock to Kenya for FGM

December 2, 2010
New Vision
Daniel Edyegu


As the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act passed by Parliament makes the practice harder to carry out in Uganda, more Sabiny women are flocking to Kenya to get cut, an official has revealed. 

Lillian Plapan, the director of Setat Women’s Organisation, an anti-FGM civil society group in West Pokot district in Kenya, told the deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, that the female candidates seek the services of Kenyan surgeons, who secretly perform the ritual at night. 

“In Kenya, Sabiny girls are cut in maize plantations and kept there for four days to allow them to heal. Later, they cross back to Uganda for total recovery,” Plapan said. 

She also said on some occasions, the Sabiny hire Kenyan surgeons who cross to Uganda and carry out the ritual at night for fear of being arrested. This revelation was made during the 15th Culture Day celebrations held at Chemwania High School in Kween district on Tuesday. 

Under the FGM law, offenders face jail terms ranging from five to 10 years or life imprisonment. Except for the Children’s Act that bars offenders from inflicting harm on children below 18 years, Kenya does not have a law on FGM. 

The Kenyan women parliamentarians recently came up with an FGM Bill in order to foster the cross-border campaign against the ritual. 

The Kapchorwa district Police commander, Patrick Bingi, said though the FGM season in Sebei sub-region started yesterday, the Police had inadequate means of transport to patrol rural areas and implement the new law. 

James Kakooza, the primary healthcare state minister, said the World Health Organisation was concerned about the increase in the number of medical personnel carrying out the ritual in health units. He cautioned health practitioners in Uganda against carrying out the ritual. 

Barhane Ras-Work, a director of a civil anti-FGM organisation, said with the increasing campaign against the ritual, the days of FGM in Uganda were numbered. 

“FGM has no place in the contemporary world. When I see the partnership between government and the civil society, I realise we are getting there,” Ras-Work said. 

Kadaga said in June, the Ugandan Parliament passed a resolution to ban FGM, adding that the country signed the petition on the ban of the ritual in Africa last month. 

“When Parliament passed the law on FGM, our biggest worry was how quickly the Police would take to get acquainted with the new Act. Since Police have shown agility in responding to the new law, I urge parents and community leaders to unite in the fight against FGM,” she said.

Slowly Winning Fight Against FGM in Northern Senegal

December 1, 2010
Inter Press Service
Koffigan E. Adigbli


PODOR, Senegal, Nov 29, 2010 (IPS) - The harm done by female genital mutilation is still enormous in Podor, a city in the north of Senegal, say officials at the local hospital. While the practice is declining slightly, some religious leaders in the region still support it.

On Oct. 3, religious leaders from 60 of the 300 villages in the district approved a declaration to abandon genital mutilation and early and forced marriage. But other clerics have spoken out against the declaration, defending both practices as an integral part of local traditions.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has been forbidden by law in Senegal since 1999, but the practice has continued briskly in Podor, despite campaigns by NGOs discouraging it.

The U.S.-based NGO Tostan (the name means "breakthrough" in Wolof) encourages women and marabouts in Podor to give up excision and forced marriage. According to its regional coordinator, Abdoulaye Kandé, to speak against FGM is not the same as speaking against Islam or trying to introduce social norms contrary to the customs of the region.

"Between now and 2015, the Senegalese government has set itself the objective of making the practice of excision a distant memory for the communities who still subscribe to it. Our organisation has to collaborate with the authorities to effectively end FGM and forced and early marriage. We will continue to raise awareness of the communities on the harm of these practices," he said.

But Amadou Ba, a sociologist at the Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, a city not far from Podor, says this practice cannot be eliminated in a day and one must first make the merits of ending it clear to local opinion leaders without frustrating anyone.

"To sensitise the masses or a group of people will have no effect. FGM, early and forced marriage are etched into the lives of the communities of Podor," says Ba.

"How else can one understand that a young girl who has not been cut is excluded from a group of women? She is not considered a woman. Therefore it's preferable that organisations fighting against FGM put in place other communication strategies and approaches to address the practice of excision."

According to certain religious leaders in the region, to fail to practice excision and early marriage is against the precepts of Islam. Thierno Hamath Mbodj, the imam of a mosque in another town in the area, Diattar, says that Islam has never forbidden the practice of excision or early marriage of young girls.

"To cut a girl is fine, and strongly recommended by Islam. These practices have existed for a long time and never had a negative impact," he said.

"No one can forbid us to do what Islam authorises. We will continue to cut our girls and we'll give them away in marriage at the right time."

But Gamaji Saré, another imam from Podor, doesn't share this view. "Some say that it's not mandatory, others the opposite. Religious leaders must meet to agree on abandoning the practice, because everyone knows it is forbidden by the law. Even Islam doesn't authorise it, it's more a part of our tradition."

Hawa Abdoul Bâ, a member of the Podor Community Management Committee, says that women are afraid not to excise their girls. "According to what we know, a woman who is not cut is difficult to satisfy sexually. That's why one must take a daughter to the old lady to cut the clitoris so she can control her sexuality until she's married," she said.

But Aminata Ba Diallo, a former FGM practitioner from Podor, said that parents no longer take their daughters to have them cut. "I was speaking with a friend who is still cutting. She complained that parents no longer bring their daughters. In my neighbourhood, Somna, from January until now, only 12 girls were cut and their parents are being threatened by the authorities. The practice is shrinking."

According to health officials in Podor, the side effects of female genital mutilation that they are seeing are enormous. Aside from the removal of the clitoris and the minor lips of the vagina, midwife Fatou Diaw Sène lists cases of sexual dysfunction, tetanus, fistula and difficult childbirth as frequent experiences amongst mutilated women.

Dr Maodo Malick Diop, the chief doctor of the Podor health district, explains that FGM makes birth difficult because of the narrowing of the vulvo-genital area.

"The minor lips of the female genitals play a large role in childbirth. They are elastic and open to allow the head of the baby to pass through. With excision, they lose this elasticity. Complications linked to excisions frequently force us to resort to caesarean sections," he told IPS.

The risk of repeated caesareans, according to Diop, has often led women to have tubal ligations done to avoid future pregnancy and protect their health.

In Podor, he said, seven of ten women who come to give birth have undergone genital mutilation.

"Excision is a practice to be condemned," he said.