As March 8th approaches, a day to celebrate the achievements of women all over the world, we expect African women to be more vocal on this issue of FGM by drawing the attentions of their various governments and the international community, to help them stamp out this mundane practice once and for all. Women all over MUST make this issue a priority. No more time to sit and wait.
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| Mary Wandia (writer) |
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia. It is an extreme
and violent form of discrimination and the act violates the rights of women and girls
to equality, bodily integrity and dignity.
As we mark the International Day of
Zero Tolerance to FGM, we are at a critical window of opportunity – a ‘tipping
point’-where momentum is growing and change can be accelerated. Based on recent findings by UNICEF, FGM is now
prohibited to varying degrees in 24 out of 29 African countries and
in the Middle East where it is most prevalent, even as full implementation of the
law continues to be a challenge.
Over the last 12 months, the
campaign against FGM has received renewed support from different actors
committed to ending the practice. According to UNICEF, Kenya has led the way
with falls in prevalence from middle-aged women to adolescent girls from 49% to
15%, albeit with an increase in the percentage of FGM performed by health
personnel.
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| African states where FGM is still prevalent |
2014 also saw a significant increase
in the prosecution of FGM cases globally and verdicts were handed out in a few countries. In
Kenya, efforts are in full gear to enforce the Children’s Act as well as the
Prohibition of FGM Act. The creation of an FGM and Early Marriage Prosecutorial
Unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the establishment
of the Anti-FGM Board has resulted in an increase in the number of cases being
reported to the police. This is useful information and a way forward which other countries where this act is still prevalent could implement.
Meanwhile, Tarime in Tanzania
witnessed the first FGM prosecution in a community that has been reluctant to
change. The UK has also had its first ever case of FGM since the passage of its
anti-FGM law in 1985. In Egypt in 2014, the Attorney General filed that
country’s first case of FGM since a law was passed banning FGM in 2008.
A thirteen (13) year-old, Soheir al-Batea, died after a doctor performed FGM on her at the
behest of her father. On January 26, the doctor was sentenced to two years in
jail for manslaughter and three months for performing FGM. Soheir's father
received a three month suspended sentence. The doctor's clinic was also closed
for one year. This first ever FGM trial in Egypt is hugely important in a
country which has the highest number of affected women and girls in the world.
In a country where more than 75% of FGM cases are performed by medical
practitioners, it is also extremely significant that a medical professional was
sentenced.
The narrative on FGM found new
platforms too. Key players in sparking media interest were two campaigns – The
Girl Generation: Together to End FGM and The Guardian’s Global Media
Campaign to End FGM. The Guardian’s campaign recognizes the critical
role of the media in ending FGM and seeks to provide incentives to keep the
issue on top of the media agenda. An international reporting award, named after
the late Efua Dorkenoo, will be granted annually to an African reporter who has
demonstrated innovation and commitment in covering FGM. However, we are still confronted with many challenges
in addressing FGM around the world. Many countries with high rates of FGM still
do not have laws banning FGM. Without laws, women and girls have no way to seek
redress and states send the message that they condone the practice. Those that
have laws in place are yet to fully enforce them.
In Kenya, Equality Now has been
monitoring three cases of girls who died following complications related to the
practice in Kajiado, Oloitoktok and Pokot. Two of the girls were pregnant
and forced to undergo FGM to hasten their passage into womanhood after
delivery. The possibility that there could have been more cases that were not
reported cannot be ruled out either.
The theme of this Year’s Zero
Tolerance Day – the involvement and mobilization of health personnel to end FGM
could not be more apt. It is urgently required. The fact that health personnel
sometimes fail in their duty of care and perform FGM, undermines decades of
hard work and is a violation of medical ethical obligations to protect health
and “do no harm.”
Resistance to FGM laws has also
hampered efforts to eliminate this human rights violation. For example, in June
2014, a section of Maasai women in Kenya took to the streets demanding that the
government permit them to practice their supposed ‘tradition’. In December
2014, in Kuria and Narok Counties, local chiefs and activists who had set out
to save girls from undergoing the practice were attacked. In Tanzania, girls
who had escaped FGM and sought refuge in a rescue centre were forced to undergo
the practice when they returned to their families.
If we are to truly end FGM in one
generation, a joined-up comprehensive approach works best. This includes
prevention, protection, provision of services, partnerships and prosecutions
where required. States must live up to their international obligations and
protect women and girls, as well as provide support services for girls at risk
or women who have undergone FGM.
Members of the medical profession
should take a leading role in eliminating the practice by refusing to perform
FGM, educating communities about the harmful consequences of FGM and providing
care where needed.
***Mary Wandia is a Female Genital Mutilation Program Manager who runs a Non-Profit Organization called Equality Now in Kenya. You can reach her for more on this topic and other related ones at mwandia@equalitynow.org or by Cell phone at: +254
733 860036 ***
