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Wednesday, March 20, 2024

FEMICIDE

Gambia postpones vote to repeal FGM ban

Women's rights remain under threat in Gambia after parliament decided to postpone a vote on upholding the ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

Dozens of women picketed parliament to stop the ban on femal genital mulitation being reversed

Hadim Thomas-Safe Hands for Girls/AP/picture alliance

Female genital mutilation (FGM) remains illegal in Gambia — for now. A decision in Gambia's National Assembly on whether to overturn the ban on FGM has been postponed for at least three months.

The divisive issue led MPs to ask for more consultation on the matter, referring the bill to a parliamentary committee which will examine it for at least three months. The bill will then be returned to parliament.

According to the AFP news agency, hundreds of people were seen protested outside parliament on Monday, with most supporting a repeal of the ban on FGM.

The tiny West African nation had explicitly criminalized FGM, also called cutting or female circumcision, in 2015, making the practise punishable with up to three years in prison or a fine of 50,000 dalasi ($736 or €678), or both.

In cases where FGM causes death, the law calls for life imprisonment.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia, often involving the removal of the clitoris or labia. It has no health benefits and is proven to harm girls and women in many ways.

The private bill to scrap the law outlawing FGM, which was proposed by individual members of parliament, argues that the current prohibition violates citizens' rights to practice their culture and religion.

Renewed debate around criminalizing FGM

The debate around FGM in Gambia flared up in mid-2023 after three women were convicted of the practise under the law. They were ordered to pay a fine of 15,000 dalasi or serve a year in jail for carrying out female genital mutilation on eight infant girls, aged between four months and one year. However, an imam paid the fines for all three women,

These were the first convictions under the law. Prior to this, only two people had been arrested and one case brought to court, according to UNICEF, and no convictions or sanctions had been handed down.

This is despite nearly three out of four girls and women, or 73%, having undergone female genital mutilation in Gambia, according to official figures.

Parliamentary reporter Arret Jatta told DW that she wasn't surprised that the pro-FGM bill has come before parliament, given the heated discussions in recent months:

"Almost all the National Assembly members are in support of the law being repealed, especially the female National Assembly members," she said.

Different interpretations of Islam

Most of the small African country's population are Muslim, and many believe that FGM is a requirement of Islam. The Gambia Supreme Islamic Council issued a fatwa (religious decree) last year, declaring FGM "one of the virtues of Islam."

However, Isatou Touray, former vice president and founder of the anti-FGM organization GAMCOTRAP, strongly refutes this interpretation.

"Who has the right to interfere in what Allah had created, and who has the right to define how a woman should look?" Touray told Gambian media organization Kerr Fatou.

Supporters of FGM meanwhile believe it can "purify" and protect girls during adolescence and before marriage.

"When it comes to the social aspect, they'll even tell you, 'Oh, it is to ensure that you stay a virgin because if you have the clitoris then … you would want to have sex,'" woman's rights advocate Esther Brown said in an interview on DW's AfricaLink radio program earlier in March.

Human rights violation

The practice of FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, finds the World Health Organization.

As well as severe bleeding, FGM can cause a variety of severe health problems, including infections, scarring, pain, menstruation problems, recurrent urinary tract infections, infertility and complications in childbirth.

One study on the health consequences of FGM in Gambia found women who were cut are four times more likely to suffer complications during delivery, and the newborn is four times more likely to have health complications if the mother has undergone FGM.

Africa's slow progress toward zero tolerance against FGM 01:35

But for Fatima Jarju, an FGM survivor who sensitizes women in Gambia to the harms of the procedure, the ongoing debate on the issue is causing further damage to women's rights:

"I think it's a big setback ... looking at our human rights standards as a country and also the commitment from the government to protecting the rights of women and girls of this country," she told DW.

Legislation not always effective against FGM

The Gambia is among 28 sub-Saharan nations where FGM is practiced. Six of these nations lack a national laws criminalizing the procedure (see map below). The Gambia could soon join them.

Many anti-FGM activists stress, however, that legislation alone is insufficient to tackle FGM, especially when it lacks enforcement, as is the case in Gambia.

Rugiatu Turay in Sierra Leone, one of the six African nations without a law against FGM, has gained international recognition for her work combating FGM.

The strategies she uses include the development of rites of passage for girls that don't involve cutting, finding alternative livelihoods for the cutters and intense community engagement.

She isn't convinced that legislation is the best way to tackle the issue.

"Generally, in Africa, people make laws to satisfy their donor partners. But when it comes to implementation, they are not implemented," she told DW.

To change cultural attitudes, she says, more community-based initiatives are needed that involve everyone from regional chiefs, local headmen and religious leaders to the cutters and the mothers making decisions for their daughters.

"If every sector in our country speaks about the cut and the scar — and its consequences — I tell you, we will end FGM," she said.

Anti-FGM campaigners march to end the practice in Sierra LeoneI

mage: Saidu Bah/AFP

Sankulleh Janko in Banjul, Eddy Micah Jr. and George Okach contributed to this article.

This article was first published on March 7, 2024 and was updated on March 19, 2024 to reflect the postponement of a vote to repeal the FGM ban.

Edited by: Rob Mudge

Amid threats by powerful religious leaders, Gambian MP's have 'moral obligation' to maintain FGM ban

Issued on: 19/03/2024 -

Video by: Nadia MASSIH

Lawmakers in Gambia are debating on a repeal of the 2015 ban on the widely condemned practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Gambian activists fear a repeal would overturn years of work in the largely Muslim country to better protect women and girls as young as 5 years old. It can cause childbirth complications and have deadly consequences, yet it remains a widespread practice in parts of Africa. As Gambia lawmakers consider a repeal of the ban, under heavy pressure from powerful religious leaders, FRANCE 24's Nadia Massih is joined by renowned Gambian activist Jaha Dukureh, Regional UN Women Ambassador for Africa and CEO / Founder of the NGO “Safe Hands for Girls” providing support to African women and girls who are survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

05:07

Gambian parliament debates bill to reverse ban on female genital mutilation

Issued on: 19/03/2024 -

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

Despite progress elsewhere, Egypt's FGM numbers still high

Despite Egypt's outlawing female genital mutilation and introducing punishments, a new study has found that the country is nowhere close to achieving its aim of ending FGM by 2030. Other places have had more success.

Anti-FGM efforts in northern Iraq had success, but in Egypt the prevalence remains high

A new study by the Cairo-based Tadwein Center for Gender Studies has found that that 86% of underprivileged women aged 18 to 35 in Egypt, a country of more than 102 million people, have been subject to female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female genital cutting (FGC).

That is only down one percentage point from the FGM figures in Egypt's last National Health Survey, in 2014.

"I was in shock when I saw how little has changed, given that Egypt vowed to end FGM by 2030," Habiba Abdelaal, fellow of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy and a researcher of sexual and gender-based violence in Egypt, told DW.

The practice is still rife despite Egypt's outlawing FGM in 2008, increasing jail sentences for practitioners and family members involved, and setting up the National Committee for the Eradication of FGM in 2019.

Glimmers of hope

Though the prevalence of FGM in certain populations in Egypt has hardly changed since 2014, the researchers told DW that there have been other shifts.

"Two things have changed for the better since 2014," said Amel Fahmy, director of the Tadwein Center and co-author of the study. "Only 38.5% of women and 58% of men support the continuation of FGM."

That marks a significant drop in favorable views among women in particular. Previously support for FGM had been about 50% for women.

"The second change is that daughters of circumcised women continue to be less likely to be circumcised, at around 57.4%," Fahmy said.

Still, those numbers reveal that almost half of the girls born in Egypt are still at risk of undergoing genital mutilation. The UN states that any form of "FGM is a human rights violation and constitutes a form of violence against women and girls."

'A medical reason' for FGM

Typically the removal of all or part of the external genitalia is carried out on girls aged between 9 and 13, but there are victims as young as 6, campaigners against FGM say.

The practice is often carried out in the name of promoting chastity and upholding tradition. Some see it as a religious duty. However, the most popular is a "medical" reason.

The medicalization of FGM is widespread in Egypt, as reflected in responses the 2014 Demographics and Health Survey: 37.9% of mothers — compared with 81.9% of daughters — had had the procedure performed by licensed medical professionals.

Midwives and traditional cutters had previously performed the procedure.

According to the WHO, there are different stages of the partial or total removal of external genitalia in FGM

"Some perpetrator doctors claim there is a medical reason for the cutting, which is nothing but a leeway for lawyers to close the case," Abdelaal said.

That is a view shared by Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-born activist and fierce campaigner against FGM. "There is no such thing as a medical reason to cut a girl's clitoris, clitoral tissue, labia and to sew the vagina together," she told DW.

'Rejected or ostracized'

Eltahawy said she remembered more than one conversation with "women who themselves were subject to FGM, who have sworn to me that they will cut their daughters despite whatever law is in place."

This is partially motivated by perceived duties of love and care, Eltahawy said: "They do it to their daughters and their granddaughters because they love them, because they don't want them to be rejected or ostracized — they want them to survive."

Eltahawy said another reason for the prevalence is that "FGM is part of a systemic patriarchy and systemic misogyny as it is interwoven with the obsession of keeping a girl's virginity until they get married."

For that reason, Eltahawy said, it is not simply up to individual mothers to pledge not to permit their daughters to bu subjected to FGM.

Thirty percent of respondents to the Tadwein study said they would not allow a son or hypothetical son to marry a noncircumcised woman.

Watch video 01:50Female genital mutilation: Facts and figures

A success story in cutting FGM rates

The German-Iraqi NGO WADI has been successfully working since 2004 with women in the Kurdish areas in northern Iraq to fight the practice.

Back then, the region used to be among the places with the world's highest prevalence of FGM.

"We've been working with women only, and the success is immense," Arvid Vormann, project coordinator at WADI, told DW.

The organization's approach is to send teams of two female social workers into villages. "Depending on the varying levels of openness, we literally started by explaining that FGM is outdated," Vormann said.

In the beginning it was tougher, and social workers were often attacked for opposing cutting.

In 2011, all forms of FGM were officially banned in Iraq, though enforcement remains as low as in Egypt.

For women, the NGO's long-term commitment has paid off as mindsets have changed: Mothers don't have their daughters cut, and men embrace women who are not circumcised. Also, WADI-trained midwives have to vow that they won't cut baby girls.

By 2020, Iraq's Kurdish region was considered FGM-free.

"But our work doesn't end here, as many women who live with FGM still need advice," Vormann said DW. WADI's social workers now focus on helping circumcised women with psychological support and hands-on information, such as using lubricants to reduce friction during intercourse.

Including men in the conversation

Activists say Egypt will need a broader-society effort to lower the high rate of FGM.

"It's a crime against women, and it's a crime happening to women — and we're still holding women accountable to fix it," Abdelaal said.

She said men would need to join the conversation. "We are living in a male-dominated society after all," she said.

But men will also need to listen. "FGM will not end in Egypt until and unless we are finally over this taboo of women's autonomy, over their bodies of sexual openness," Eltahawy said. "And that will require a sexual revolution in which we say I own my body and it is my right to experience pleasure."

Fahmy fears that an end to FGM will not occur within the next generation.

"FGM is closely linked to education," Fahmy said. "And, while education levels among girls are increasing, progress would need to be 15 times faster to end FGM by 2030."

Edited by: Sonia Phalnikar

WWW LINKS
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/04/female-genital-mutilation-cutting-anthropologist/389640/

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Nigeria: SDG2030 - Nigeria Must Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation to Achieve Other Goals - Official

rufai ajala/Flickr
A banner denouncing female genital mutilation (FGM).

28 APRIL 2022
Premium Times (Abuja)

By Nike Adebowale

Over 200 million girls and women have been subjected to the harmful practice of FGM in 30 countries including Nigeria.

Nigeria's minister of women affairs, Pauline Tallen, has said for Nigeria to achieve a majority of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, it must address issues of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the country.

The minister said this while speaking at the launch of the "movement for good to end FGM" in Abuja on Thursday.

Ms Tallen said the 2030 targets on health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, decent work, and economic growth cannot be achieved except FGM is eliminated in the country.

She noted that the continuous practice of FGM denies girls and women the right to quality education and opportunities for decent work and their sexual and reproductive health is threatened.

She said the procedure of FGM has no health benefit for girls and women but rather causes more problems for them.

"The resulting outcome of FGM are adverse haemorrhage, infection, acute urinary retention following such trauma, damage to the urethra or anus," she said.

She added that during the procedure, the victim would struggle through an experience which leads to chronic pelvic infection, dysmenorrhea, retention cysts, sexual difficulties, obstetric complications, bleeding, prolonged labour, leading to fistula formation, amongst others.

"The mental and psychological agony attached with FGM is deemed the most serious complication because the problem does not manifest outwardly for help to be offered," she said.

"FGM, a violation of human right"

FGM, according to United Nations (UN), "comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons".

It is recognised internationally as a violation of human rights, the health and the integrity of girls and women, the global organisation says.

The global body says it aims to have the practice eradicated around the world by 2030.

Over 200 million girls and women have been subjected to the harmful practice of FGM in 30 countries including Nigeria.

With an estimated 19.9 million survivors, Nigeria accounts for 10 per cent of the 200 million FGM survivors worldwide.

Speaking at the event, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator, Matthias Schmale, said the prevalence of FGM amongst girls up to 14 years old is still on the rise.

Mr Schmale said 86 per cent of these children were mutilated before the age of five, meaning FGM is the s greatest in the early years of life.

"What this tells us is that the perpetrators of this harmful practice are devising ways to circumvent surveillance and diminish the gains recorded over the years towards the eradication of FGM in Nigeria, by targeting infants who neither knows nor understand the enormity or magnitude of the practice they are being subjected to," he said.

He explained that the practice of FGM which he noted is handed over from generation to generation, and culturally justified, is no longer acceptable.

He noted that this practice violates women's and girls' rights to life, health, and dignity as well as their bodily autonomy.

"The time to end FGM in Nigeria is now and the responsibility to do so lies with us all," he said.

The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, said, at least 200 women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation and more might be affected in the coming years.

Ms Blatmann said FGM contravenes the rights of every woman.

"Indeed to promote the elimination of this scourge, coordinated and systematic efforts involving everyone are needed," she said.

In her remarks, the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leonard, said FGM harms women and girls across the continent and the US is working with its partners around the world to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence including FGM.

Ms Leonard said the US government has been steadfast in its partnership with Nigeria.

The launch

Mr Schmale said the movement launched today will support innovative and safe platforms driven by young people who have pledged their commitment to end the practice of FGM using the hashtag "act to end FGM."

He said the expansion of digital literacy and increased access to social media platforms in the country presents an opportunity to advance positive social norms that promote the health and well-being of children and in particular girls.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

Gambia: Bill Threatens Female Genital Mutilation Ban

Reject Proposed Law That Would Reverse Critical Gains for Women’s, Girls’ Rights

Click to expand Image
Protesters against female genital mutilation (FGM) demonstrate outside the National Assembly in Banjul, Gambia, on March 18, 2024.

© 2024 Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP via Getty Images

(Abuja) – A bill before Gambia’s National Assembly to reverse a groundbreaking 2015 ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) jeopardizes the rights of women and girls in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

Gambia is among the 10 countries with the highest levels of FGM. In addition to the 2015 ban, which made all acts of FGM a criminal offense, the Gambian government adopted a national strategy and policy for 2022–2026 to end the practice in the country by 2030. If the National Assembly adopts the Women’s (Amendment) Bill 2024 at its June session, Gambia would become the first country to overturn a FGM ban.

“The Gambian government’s consideration of a bill reversing the ban on FGM is deeply troubling for women’s rights,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The proposed law would legitimize FGM in the country and could encourage similar measures elsewhere on the continent, undermining the progress made in protecting girls and women from this harmful practice.”

Female genital mutilation refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons,” according to the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF). It has lasting physical, psychological, and emotional consequences. It is also a serious public health issue and can lead to complications during childbirth, including maternal and infant mortality.

FGM violates girls’ and women’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, rights to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, rights to life, and rights to sexual and reproductive health.

The UN reported that over 230 million girls and women worldwide have survived FGM and live with its lasting effects. UNICEF found that approximately 73 percent of girls and women in Gambia ages 15 to 49 years reported surviving FGM, with more than 80 percent of those ages 10 to 19 having been cut before age 5. More than 20 percent of them were infibulated, meaning the genital area is cut and sown shut.

Traditional practitioners, many of them women, perform most cases of FGM in Gambia, leading to deaths in some cases as well as short-term and long-term morbidity in many more instances. While medicalization of FGM or reinfibulation, meaning the genital area is cut back open after previously being sown shut, performed by any category of healthcare provider, might slightly mitigate immediate complications, FGM is never “safe.” Girls and women face a high risk of health consequences immediately and later in life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no medical justification for the practice.

The 2019-2020 Gambia Demographic and Health Survey data showed a slight decrease in FGM, 73 percent of girls and women ages 15 to 49 having survived FGM compared with 75 percent in 2013. The survey also reflected a shift in the attitudes and behaviors of many practicing communities. However, over the last 30 years, the percentage of girls and women ages 10 to 19 who reported experiencing FGM has not changed significantly.

Most communities in Gambia use religion or tradition to justify the practice. However, there is no requirement in Sharia (Islamic law) for FGM, or female circumcision, nor is it a part of the Sunna (Prophetic traditions) or considered an honorable act. It contradicts the prophetic hadith, Muhammad’s words, “Do not harm yourself or others.” The common definition that circumcision is the cutting or removal of “extra skin” is not applicable because there is no unnecessary part of a female’s external genitalia that could be useless or harmful.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights defines harmful practices as “practices which constitute a denial of the dignity and/or the integrity of an individual, result in physical, psychological, economic and social harm and/or violence and limit women’s and girl’s capacity to participate fully in society.” It says that such practices, including those based on tradition, custom, or religion, are a violation of human rights.

FGM is addressed in a number of international conventions and regional agreements and is prohibited by national legislation in many countries. The international community and UN member countries have committed to eliminating all harmful practices, including FGM, by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality. With Gambia’s current FGM trends, reversing the ban would inevitably maintain and possibly increase its high levels of FGM, endangering the lives and well-being of Gambian girls and women now and in the future.

The Gambian government should prioritize the protection of girls’ and women’s rights and adopt all measures to eliminate this harmful practice by 2030, Human Rights Watch said. The government should heed calls from civil society organizations and African and UN human rights bodies to discourage legislative efforts to lift the ban.

It should urgently invest in comprehensive education and awareness-raising programs to promote understanding of the harmful effects of FGM, encourage community-led efforts to end the practice, strengthen enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance, and provide survivor-responsive medical, legal, and psychosocial support. International donors should immediately coordinate with national and local efforts to advocate for upholding the FGM ban.

“The Gambian government should fiercely protect the rights of Gambian girls and women and reject any proposal to reverse or weaken the 2015 FGM ban,” Segun said. “The government should take concrete steps to end the harmful practice of FGM once and for all.”

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Africa:

Innovative Solutions for Ending Female Genital Mutilation in Africa

Win Seed Funding and Support From UNFPA FGM Innovation Hacklab

UNFPA
FGM Hacklab winners Mack Marangu of Enlightened Generation International, from Kenya, and Glory Mlagwa of Ennovate Ventures, from Tanzania, were awarded $30,000 in seed funding.

29 NOVEMBER 2022
UNFPA East and Southern Africa (Johannesburg)

PRESS RELEASE

Nairobi, Kenya — Two ground-breaking innovative solutions for ending female genital mutilation (FGM) on the continent are the winners of UNFPA's FGM Innovation Hacklab.

The FGM Innovation HackLab Initiative, supports Africa's young people and youth organizations in developing innovative solutions to end FGM. The initiative was organized by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, the Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP) and the global UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.

The winners, Mack Marangu of Enlightened Generation International, Kenya, and Glory Mlagwa of Ennovate Ventures, Tanzania, were each awarded $30,000 in seed funding. This will support the growth of their solutions, aimed at accelerating progress towards zero FGM in Africa. The winners will also receive incubation support coordinated by AfriLabs.

Mack Marangu's innovation is a mobile application built to track school attendance by girls most at risk of undergoing FGM. "In areas where the practice is prevalent, school absence is one of the signs that indicates a girl is about to undergo FGM," said Mr. Marangu. "We are looking forward to scaling the innovation to reach more communities in Kenya with the tools, to gather real-time data that can inform action to end FGM."

The winning solution from Tanzania's Glory Mlagwa is a platform to disseminate community health information on FGM through media, visual arts and community outreach sessions. "We owe it to every girl in Tanzania to help reach zero FGM by 2030, and we have to work together as a community to achieve this," she said.

The winners were selected from a pool of six finalists drawn from Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Nigeria and Guinea.

"I am inspired by the innovative ideas presented by the young people from across Africa. Each of them presents an opportunity to ensure that no girl falls into the statistics of women who have undergone FGM," said Kenya's Anti-FGM Chief Executive Officer, Bernadette Loloju.

The UNFPA FGM Innovation Hacklab provides a platform for young people to share innovative ideas and solutions to fast track the ending of FGM across Africa. This year, the hacklab engaged more than 100 innovation incubation/accelerator hubs across Africa, and more than 300 innovators working on achieving bodily autonomy, especially innovative solutions to end FGM. More than 300 innovators and hubs engaged on the application platform, and 31 submissions were received.

Launched in 2021, the hacklab has identified more than 100 innovative solutions, disbursed over $150,000 in seed funds and provided comprehensive business incubation support to scaleable and viable solutions across the continent. In all, more than 1 million young people have been reached with information about FGM innovation as a result.

"The African continent has the youngest population in the world. UNFPA is committed to creating opportunities for this generation to work and innovate toward the sustainable development goals," said UNFPA Kenya Deputy Representative, Dr. Abiodun Oyeyipo.

About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, delivers a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA calls for the realization of reproductive rights for all and supports access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services, including voluntary family planning, maternal health care and comprehensive sexuality education.

UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation

The UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation is the largest global programme to accelerate the abandonment of this harmful traditional practice and thereby advance the rights, health and well-being of women and girls. The programme has catalysed a global movement to eliminate FGM and has shown an unparalleled ability to effect change at the regional, subregional, national and community levels.

Friday, August 18, 2023

FEMICIDE

FGM identified as a leading cause of death in African countries

UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a leading cause of death in the countries where it is practised, with over 44,000 additional women and young girls dying each year, a new study reveals.

FGM accounts for more deaths in these countries than any cause other than enteric infections – usually resulting from consuming contaminated food or water – respiratory infections, or malaria and remains legal in five of the 28 countries where it is most practiced.

Researchers are calling for FGM to be made illegal Mali, Malawi, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, given that legal change can lead to cultural change. They also say that efforts must be stepped up to eliminate FGM in countries where it is practiced.

Publishing their findings in Nature Scientific Reports, researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Exeter analysed the numbers of girls subjected to FGM in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.

They discovered that a 50% increase in the number of girls undergoing FGM increases their five-year mortality rate and leads to estimated 44,320 excess deaths per year across countries where the practice takes place.

Co-author Professor James Rockey, from the University of Birmingham, commented: “Our findings show that FGM is a leading cause of death amongst girls and young women in countries where it is practised, but lasting change requires changing attitudes towards FGM in these communities.

“There is cause for optimism, as work on non-communicable diseases shows effective interventions are possible, but change in patriarchal attitudes often lags other societal change – an important first step would be for FGM to be made illegal in the countries where it is within the law, given that legal change can lead to cultural change.”

Globally, over 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM – a practice which often happens in unsanitary conditions and without clinical supervision with consequent severe pain, bleeding, and infection. It is known to lead to obstetric complications, reductions in sexual function, and other long-term physical health problems, as well as mental health problems.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates the aggregate cost of medical treatment for girls and women after FGM was $1.4 billion in 2018. However, until now, there has been no systematic evidence about the role of FGM in the global epidemiology of child mortality – reflecting difficulties in measuring the practice.

A key social dimension of FGM is how it impacts on marriage, for example, the practice influences women’s marriage opportunities in Western Africa - due to patriarchal culture and institutions.

“Our research suggests that decisions about FGM may reflect trade-offs between perceived disadvantages of FGM, such as pain and illegality, and expected benefits such reduced social sanctions and a higher bride-price – people may factor in an increased risk of death as part of that calculation,” added Professor Rockey.

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact Tony Moran, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7827 832312: email: t.moran@bham.ac.uk or pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk

Notes to editor:

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
‘Estimating excess mortality due to female genital mutilation’ – Arpita Ghosh, Heather Flowe & James Rockey is published in Nature Scientific Reports.

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Estimating excess mortality due to female genital mutilation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Aug-2023

Thursday, July 18, 2024

TAKING A STAND AGAINST FGM

In Gambia, 73 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 years have undergone FGM.

NEW INTERNATIONALIST
18 July 2024

Rosebell Kagumire argues that we must stand firm against the conservative assault on women’s autonomy.

It was quite a scene, as man after man stood up to speak in Gambia’s National Assembly during a debate on one of the most private aspects of women’s lives. In March 2024, the male-dominated Assembly – where women have only 8.6 per cent of seats – overwhelmingly voted to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

The move swiftly undid decades of advocacy which in 2015 had resulted in a law banning FGM, making Gambia the 27th African country to outlaw the practice, with penalties of up to three years in prison or fines equivalent to around $730.

In August 2023 Gambia’s Magistrates Courts convicted three women of performing FGM and imposed fines, underscoring the law. It was no longer just on paper, but was actually being enforced. While this sparked hope, there was also a backlash from some parliamentarians and religious leaders. Calls to repeal the ban once again intensified, in a country where 73 per cent of women and girls aged 15 to 49 years have undergone FGM.

Rights advocates responded by organizing community rallies, attending parliamentary sessions and protesting – despite facing threats of organized attacks. Support from some regional chiefs and former circumcisers has strengthened the anti-FGM movement, although the political and religious interests continue to pose challenges as Gambia navigates its fragile democracy under President Adama Barrow.

Regional bodies like the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, have urged the preservation of anti-FGM laws. In November 2023, these bodies described FGM as ‘a pervasive abuse of the rights of girls and women that is as old as human civilization’, emphasizing that the interests of the child should prevail over competing cultural, religious or social norms. United Nations experts on the rights of women and children also supported maintaining the law.

Gambia is not alone; nearly 140 million women and girls in Africa have undergone FGM and even with 28 countries on the continent enacting laws against it, enforcement remains weak and accountability is elusive.

RELATED: SURVIVORS AND DOCTORS FIGHT BACK AGAINST FGM

Nearly 140 million women and girls in Africa have undergone FGM and even with 28 countries on the continent enacting laws against it, enforcement remains weak and accountability is elusive.

The pushback against women’s rights diverts badly needed attention, resources and services – including healthcare, reconstructive surgeries, and psychological care – away from survivors. Those who have faced this heinous violence struggle to get justice.

In many countries in conflict, such as Sudan and Somalia, the prevalence of FGM often intensifies, exacerbated by factors such as displacement, poverty and breakdown of social systems. Recently, the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Ethiopia backed medicalized FGM, where a healthcare professional carries out the cutting, contradicting national laws.

We must stand firm against the conservative assault on women’s autonomy, that sees too many male-led institutions spreading patriarchal beliefs and misinformation about women’s bodies, determining who lives free from violence and who doesn’t

Rosebell Kagumire

Sunday, July 07, 2024

Activists hail Sierra Leone child marriage ban, urge action on female genital mutilation

AMERIKA STILL ALLOWS

CHILD (RAPE) MARRIAGE

Agence France-Presse
July 7, 2024

(AFP)

Sierra Leone this week adopted a landmark law banning child marriage — a move heralded by rights groups and foreign partners but leaving some activists demanding more action to end pervasive female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of girls are married before turning 18 in the West African nation, where a persistently patriarchal society puts women at risk of multiple forms of gender-based violence.

Sierra Leone has some of the highest rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality in the world.

In a major step forward, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act criminalises marrying girls below 18 with jail terms of at least 15 years or a fine of more than $2,000.

It also bans men from living with underage girls and sets out a compensation package for those who are married or fall pregnant before turning 18.

But the law — championed by Sierra Leone’s First Lady Fatima Maada Bio — remains silent on the harmful practice of FGM, which many see as deeply intertwined with the marrying of young girls.

“We’re saying (the law) is good work, but… you cannot be blinded to the fact that there is a practice that still perpetuates child marriage,” said Josephine Kamara, 31, advocacy director at women and girls’ activism organisation Purposeful.

“If you refuse to solve it, and if you’re silenced about it, then any action to end child marriage might just be lip service,” she told AFP in a phone interview.

FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, and can lead to serious health problems including infections, bleeding, infertility and complications in childbirth.

In Sierra Leone, 83 percent of women aged between 15 and 49 have undergone the practice, according to a 2019 Demographic Health Survey.

“The cutting of the clitoris symbolises that girls have now gone through a rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood,” Kamara said.

“That rite of passage says even if you’re seven years old, if you’ve gone through that process, you’re now seen as a woman”.

‘Marketplace for marriage’

While activists largely praised the child marriage ban, the lack of impetus behind ending FGM left some worried about mixed messaging from the government.

“It’s very confusing,” said Alimatu Dimonekene, 54, an FGM survivor and campaigner, who explained the two practices often went hand in hand.

“The reason in Sierra Leone girls are cut so early is because (the families) want them to get married,” she told AFP.

“Sometimes the families say, ‘Oh we found her a suitor or the suitor is paying for us to do the FGM’.

“Usually… that child is married off the next day to whoever, because it’s the same traditional leaders.”

Kamara also expressed concern about the implementation of the child marriage ban, particularly in rural areas, if communities were still able to carry out FGM.

“It’s really conflicting information we’re sending,” she said.

“We’re saying no more marriage, but then we’re leaving the institution that is a marketplace for marriage.”

Bans on both FGM and child marriage had already been included in a sweeping Child Rights Act, but the legislation has been stalled in parliament.

The activists AFP spoke to said they felt the child marriage issue had been cherry picked from the bill by legislators to avoid addressing FGM.

“We know why they’re refusing to talk about it, (FGM) marks itself in culture: ‘this is our culture, this is our practice’,” said Kamara.

“But ain’t nothing cultural about cutting clitorises, it’s a human rights violation,” she added.

The fear of criticising such a pervasive practice is what silences many legislators, said Rugiatu Turay, 50, the founder of anti-FGM organisation Amazonian Initiative Movement.

Turay herself underwent FGM at the age of 11, suffered severe bleeding and lost a cousin to the practice.

“Ending child marriage alone will not stop, will not reduce the practice of FGM,” she said.

“(Legislators) need to look at a holistic approach at ending the suffering of children, not separating one issue from the other.”

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Coronavirus pandemic leads to rise in FGM across Africa

Campaigners against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) say that the coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on efforts to curb the practice. FGM remains common despite being criminalized in many countries.

Domtila Chesang is from West Pokot County in northwestern Kenya, a region where Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still common practice. She became a campaigner against FGM and child marriage after witnessing her cousin be subjected to the practice. The nightmarish experience made her not anxious, but determined: In 2017, she received a Queen's Young Leaders Award at Buckingham Palace in London for her work raising awareness.

"I use my voice and my influence to fight for the rights of girls and against gender-based violence," she told DW.

Long-term psychological and physical damage

But Chesang's work has become all the harder since the coronavirus pandemic struck. "Our campaigns are not very effective," she said. "We can't move freely because Kenya is in lockdown and also has a nighttime curfew."

"The focus is on COVID-19. That's what most funding is going towards. So, there are more girls who are being subjected to harmful cultural practices in their communities."

She said that over 500 girls had been subjected to FGM in the months of April, May and June, when the lockdown measures were at their strictest. This was a major setback: "The girls will suffer their whole lives, both psychologically and physically."

Girls are sometimes married off as young as 12 or 14 and thus robbed of any chance of making their own decisions. FGM is considered by some communities to be a necessary rite of passage before a woman marries.

Education and outreach has come to a near-complete standstill due to the pandemic.

Read more: Russia's first trial on female genital mutilation restarts after coronavirus lockdown

Marriage seen as path out of poverty

Daniela Gierschmann from the women's rights organization Medica Mondiale said that the coronavirus pandemic had led to a similar situation in West Africa, particularly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast: "Such crises are particularly difficult for girls and women. They exacerbate already existing inequalities," she told DW.

"There is less protection from institutions and a significant rise in sexual and domestic violence. Teenage pregnancies and FGM are increasing."

Gierschmann explained that families were more likely to try to marry off a daughter in difficult times when it became harder to feed all children — and FGM was part of the marriage ritual.

"COVID-19 has had a negative effect on human rights," agreed Asita Maria Scherrieb from the women's rights organization Terre des Femmes. "We've seen that in West Africa. Because of the coronavirus, there are no more awareness-raising campaigns in schools and nobody is keeping an eye on the girls. It doesn't get noticed if they don't turn up," she told DW. She also explained that healthcare was limited because COVID-19 patients were being prioritized, and that distancing regulations meant there were fewer spots in protective institutions than usual.

Despite being criminalized, FGM is still practiced in many countries.

Read more: Sierra Leone anti-FGM activist wins German human rights prize

Human rights violation

"FGM is a grievous violation of human rights and considered a crime by international law," she added. It is actually prohibited in many countries but according to the World Health Organization, the practice continues to exist in almost 30 African countries. Across the world, over 200 million girls and women are thought to have been subjected to the practice. Schierrieb estimated that the figure might well have increased by two million during the coronavirus pandemic alone.

Nonetheless, there was a small flicker of light in the parts of West Africa which had learned from prior epidemics, said Gierschmann from Medica Mondiale: "Many women have used their experience from the Ebola outbreak and set up decentralized telephone hotlines for girls and women at risk." She also said that though women's refuges were offering more protection and some extracurricular classes, these measures did not suffice.

It is estimated that around 200 million girls and women are victims of female genital mutilation

Domtila Chesang doubts that Kenya will be able to put an end to FGM by 2022 as the president has pledged. She is very worried about the future of all the girls who "have been married off by force, cut off from education and are now completely dependent on their husbands."

"They have no voice and nobody hears them."

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Kenya: The dangerous rise of 'medicalised' genital mutilation

By Rédaction Africanews

As Edinah Nyasuguta Omwenga fought for her life after developing complications during childbirth, she overheard doctors in the Kenyan hospital describe her condition as a textbook example of the damaging -- even deadly -- effects of genital mutilation.

But unlike thousands of girls across East Africa, Omwenga underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) in a hospital, at the hands of a health worker -- part of a worrying trend keeping the illegal practice alive.

"I was seven years old... no one told me it would cause so many problems," Omwenga, now 35, recalled.

When Kenya banned FGM in 2011, few expected that the practice -- traditionally performed in public with pomp and ceremony -- would migrate to backroom clinics and private homes, with nurses and pharmacists doing the procedure underground.

Medicalised FGM -- as it is known -- is defended by practitioners and communities alike as a "safe" way to preserve the custom, despite risks to the victim's physical, psychological and sexual health.

According to a 2021 report by UNICEF, medicalised FGM is growing in Egypt, Sudan, Guinea and Kenya, where it threatens to undo progress made by the East African nation in stamping out the tradition, which involves the partial or total removal of the clitoris.

Kenya estimates that FGM rates fell by more than half "from 38 percent in 1998 to 15 percent in 2022". However, campaigners caution that actual figures are likely to be higher.

- 'Traditions defy education' -

In Kisii county, 300 kilometres (180 miles) west of Nairobi, more than 80 percent of FGM procedures are carried out by health workers, according to government data.

Doris Kemunto Onsomu spent years administering the cut to schoolgirls in the hilly region, believing it was a significantly safer alternative to the traditional procedure she underwent as an adolescent.

"Because I was aware of the risk of infection, I would use a fresh blade every time," she told AFP.

"I thought I was helping the community." The lucrative gig added 50 percent to her monthly income as a health worker before she stopped the practice. Demand came from all quarters, including upper middle-class households.

"Traditions defy education. It takes a long time to unlearn certain practices," the 67-year-old said.

Tina -- not her real name -- the daughter of an engineer, was at her grandmother's house in Kisii when a health worker turned up late at night to perform the procedure on the eight-year-old and her cousin.

"It felt like the world was ending, it was very painful," she told AFP, recounting her confinement on the orders of her grandmother, who told her she had to remain in seclusion until the wound was healed.

Now a student at the University of Nairobi, the 20-year-old campaigns against the practice, reflecting a growing push by FGM survivors to eradicate the custom.

As the youngest of five sisters raised in Kisii, Rosemary Osano said she "felt pressure" to go along with tradition when she was cut.

"People feel like we have adopted Western culture in so many ways... so they want to hold on to this (practice) as a way of holding on to their culture," the 31-year-old graduate told AFP.

- 'Save me from FGM' -

The belief also persists across the diaspora, with families flouting local laws and travelling to Kenya for the procedure.

In October this year, a London court convicted a British woman for taking a three-year-old girl to a Kenyan clinic to undergo medicalised FGM.

"It's done by the elite, they know it's wrong but they do it to defend their culture," activist Esnahs Nyaramba told AFP.

"They say that without this (cut) the girl will be a harlot," she added.

President William Ruto has urged Kenyans to stop practising FGM, but Nyaramba said the authorities needed to take tougher action against perpetrators, including health workers and victims' families.

"If you (throw) a parent... in jail and highlight it, then people will fear it." But other campaigners caution that a crackdown could drive the practice even further underground.

Instead, organisations have chosen to focus on building awareness and persuading families to opt for alternative rites of passage, combining celebratory coming-of-age rituals with traditional teachings.

At a recent ceremony organised by Kenyan non-profit Manga HEART in Kisii, around 100 girls -- wearing kitenge skirts and aged between seven and 11 years old -- sang songs and recited rhymes, urging their parents to "save me from FGM".

As the children received "certificates of achievement", their beaming relatives applauded and ululated -- the public ceremony reflecting an emerging resolve to end the dangerous practice. Some of the grandmothers and mothers celebrating that day knew the stakes all too well.

"I lost a lot of blood during FGM... but I couldn't stop it from happening," said Omwenga, the mother-of-three who nearly died during childbirth.

"I am here today because my girl is not going to go through FGM," she said. "I don't want my daughters to suffer like me."

Monday, October 09, 2023

Religious leaders, communities unite against FGM in Yemen

8 October 2023

FGM is prevelant in southern Yemen, and theatre, roleplay and social media are used to help young people break free from the harmful practice at UNFPA-supported youth and women and girls safe spaces. © UNFPA Yemen

Religious, community, academic leaders and young people are coming together across Yemen to combat the scourge of female genital mutilation (FGM) and the myths that underpin it.

Nearly one in five girls aged 15 to 49 have endured FGM in Yemen, with the harmful practice typically carried out by traditional practitioners. Years of conflict have decimated the country’s health services, pushing up the risk of serious complications from female genital cutting.

Yet through the ground-breaking ‘Shamekhat,’ or ‘Girls Stand Tall’ Network, influential religious leaders now use busy Friday sermons to bust the myth that FGM is condoned by religion, and are working with experts and partners to raise awareness of the risks in their communities.

Since the Shamekhat Network’s launch in Yemen in 2019, religious leaders have hosted four workshops with over 120 more religious authorities to share strategies and messages. In the governorate of Aden and Al Mukalla City, religious leaders have issued statements calling for the abandonment of FGM, with two communities declaring their rejection of the harmful practice.

The Shamekhat network ties faith-based, youth and community groups together, with staff and students at Hadramout University working to combat FGM among students and the community. Women conduct home visits to pregnant women to convince them not to cut their daughters.

FGM is prevelant in southern Yemen, and theatre, roleplay and social media are used to help young people break free from the harmful practice at UNFPA-supported youth and women and girls safe spaces. Radio, TV and posters are also used to spread the word.

Influential religious leaders bust the myth that FGM is condoned by religion, and are working with experts and partners to raise awareness of the risks in their communities. © UNFPA Yemen

“Being part of the Shamekhat Network means I can use my skills and knowledge to help educate people about the dangers of FGM, and help to promote positive change in my community,” says Dr Moataz Abdel Motamed, a faculty member at Hadramaut University.

According to Dr Abdel Motamed, campaigning through the Shamekhat Network has helped shift attitudes away from accepting the practice as normal, generated support from local authorities, led to more families choosing not to cut their daughters and improved support for survivors.

“FGM is a brutal practice. This makes working with religious leaders absolutely crucial. The creative and community-driven approach of the Shamekhat Network will build momentum across Yemen to end FGM,” says Enshrah Ahmed, UNFPA Representative in Yemen.

The Shamekhat Network is supported with funds from the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Understanding social media discussions about female genital mutilation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

Conversations on social media about female genital mutilation (FGM) have not changed dramatically over the five years to 2020, according to an analysis of English Twitter data, though there was a shift from raising awareness to calling for an end to the practice. Earlier on, users discussing the topic were mainly from the USA and UK, but later the majority came from Nigeria and Kenya. The research, published in PLOS Global Public Health, may be useful in informing communication and designing culturally effective campaigns against FGM.

At least 200 million women and girls living in 30 countries have undergone FGM despite it being illegal in almost all of the countries where it happens. FGM can lead to short- and long-term health consequences such as hemorrhage, shock, chronic infections, sexual health challenges and obstetric complications and poor mental health outcomes.

Gray Babbs and Sarah E. Weber of Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues analyzed social media discussion between 2015 and 2020 to assess sentiments, knowledge and attitudes about FGM over time. Surveys do not always elicit truthful answers, and the perceived anonymity of social media can bring private conversations into the public sphere.

They saw increases in conversation related to five news stories in the study period: when stricter laws were set in Eritrea, when the practice was outlawed in Egypt and banned in The Gambia and Sudan, and when a doctor was charged in the USA with performing FGM. Although it is not associated with any one religious group, Islam was associated with FGM in all years studied, with some individuals using FGM to justify Islamophobia and connecting it to other practices like honor killings and acid attacks.

There was a shift over time from awareness raising to explicit calls to end FGM. This aligned with movement-based language in the later period, tying FGM to feminism and human rights struggles. Using Twitter data in this way allows public health workers to listen to public discourse, understand perceptions, and develop appropriate communications and effective interventions.

The authors add: “We observed a 17-fold increase in daily FGM conversations on International Day of Zero Tolerance. This suggests there might be opportunity for using social media to educate the public about the FGM practice on or around International Day of Zero Tolerance.”

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Global Public Health: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0000878

Citation: Babbs G, Weber SE, Abdalla SM, Cesare N, Nsoesie EO (2023) Use of machine learning methods to understand discussions of female genital mutilation/cutting on social media. PLOS Glob Public Health 3(7): e0000878. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000878

Author Countries: US

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.