2 million girls a year mutilated

 

Every year several million women approach childbirth knowing that the risk will be greater because some or all of their genitalia has been cut away by the traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Approximately 2 million girls are mutilated every year. Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, and the Sudan account for 75% of all cases. In Djibouti and Somalia, 98% of girls are mutilated.

Apart from the immediate fear and pain, the consequences can include prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility, and death. For those who suffer infibulations – the severest form of FGM in which all external sexual organs are cut away – the trauma of recutting is repeated with each new birth to allow passage of the baby. Both moderate and severe forms increase the risks of childbirth.

Mutilation is not required by any religion. It is a tradition designed to preserve virginity, ensure marriage ability, and contain sexuality.

As the table shows, several African governments have begun to move against the practice. So far, only Ghana has translated policy into law. The Government of Burkina Faso, which has actively campaigned against FGM since 1990 through its National Anti-Excision Committee, has escalated its work in the past three years as the result of increased national support: law cases involving deaths caused by FGM have been brought to court under existing criminal laws.

Usually inflicted on girls aged 4 to 12, FGM is one of the worst violations of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The 1990s have seen growing pressures against the practice from women's groups, human rights organizations, child welfare groups, and professional organizations.

Action has also been taken in some industrialized countries with significant numbers of African refugees or immigrant groups. In 1994, Australia and Norway joined Sweden and the United Kingdom in passing laws against FGM. As of December 1995, bills to make FGM a criminal offence were before the US Congress and the Canadian Parliament.

Africa: the FGM record

Estimates of the numbers and percentages of women who suffer female genital mutilation

 

 


Estimated
% of women		 Estimated
number
of women
(millions)
1994		 Government
has published
policy
opposing
FGM		 FGM prohibited under
Specific
FGM law 		Medical code
of practice
Nigeria 60 32.8 Yes No No
Egypt 80 24.2 Yes No Yes
Ethiopia 90 23.9 Yes No No
Sudan (northern) 89 9.7 Yes * No
Kenya 50 6.8 Yes No No
Somalia 98 4.5 Yes** No No
Mali 80 4.3 Yes No No
Cote d'Ivoire 60 4.1 No No No
Burkina Faso 70 3.5 Yes No No
Ghana 30 2.6 Yes Yes ***
Sierra Leone 90 2.0 Yes No No
Chad 60 1.9 Yes No No
Eritrea 90**** 1.6 Yes No No
Guinea 50 1.6 Yes No No
Tanzania 10 1.5 No No No
Benin 50 1.3 Yes No No
Cameroon 20 1.3 Yes No No
Zaire 5 1.1 No No No
Togo 50 1.0 Yes No No
Liberia 60 0.9 Yes No No
Niger 20 0.9 No No No
Central African Rep. 50 0.8 Yes No No
Senegal 20 0.8 Yes No No
Gambia 89 0.5 Yes No No
Uganda 5 0.5 No No No
Djibouti 98 0.3 Yes No No
Guinea-Bissau 50 0.3 No No No
Mauritania 25 0.3 No No No

FGM is not practiced in the three southern regions. The Sudan's 1946 law prohibited infibulations only (the severest form of FGM): the 1993 penal code does not mention FGM, leaving its current legal status unclear.

* Past government policy opposed FGM, but the policy of current ruling groups is unknown.

** FGM is not covered by a medical code, but this may be unnecessary since the practice is illegal.

*** This estimate predates Eritrea's independence and assumes that FGM prevalence is equivalent to Ethiopia's.

SOURCES FGM: Nahid Toubia, January 1996 update from her study, Female Genital Mutilation: A Call for Global Action, Women, Ink., New York, revised edition, 1995. Population: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 1994 Revision, 1994.

 

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