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AT LEAST 200 million girls and women in 30 countries worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
FGM refers to the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. The practice is most common in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and carried out due to cultural or religious traditions.
Using data from the 2016 Census, it is estimated that 5,790 women and girls living in Ireland have been subjected to the practice, compared with some 3,780 in 2013 – a 53% increase. A further 2,700 girls here may be at risk of undergoing the practice, according to research by ActionAid.
To mark International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, which is happening today, a delegation from Liberia will address a conference in Dublin. Just under half of women and girls in Liberia have undergone FGM.
Elizabeth Dato Gbah is the acting head of Programme and Policy at ActionAid International Liberia (AAIL). She told TheJournal.ie attitudes towards FGM are changing in the country, but that it has been a slow process.
She said a number of journalists and others who publicly spoke out against the practice had to leave the country due to threats and intimidation and, in some cases, physical violence – though some have since returned.
“A few years ago FGM was a taboo subject that could not be discussed.
Whenever you talk about FGM you have a backlash from the community as it is a traditional practice.
Due to the fact FGM has been passed down through many generations, some people view attempts to stop it as culturally disrespectful.
Side effects
In a bid to ease tensions, AAIL works with community leaders and practitioners to raise awareness about how the practice violates human rights, and can have serious or potentially fatal consequences for women and girls. The organisation also helps practitioners – known as ‘cutters’ – to learn new skills.
Immediate complications from FGM include severe pain, shock, haemorrhaging, tetanus, infection, fever and septicemia.
Long-term consequences include complications during childbirth, anaemia, the formation of cysts and abscesses, urinary incontinence, painful sexual intercourse, hypersensitivity of the genital area and increased risk of HIV transmission, as well as psychological effects.
In January, Liberia imposed a one-year ban on carrying out FGM on females under the age of 18. Last year parliamentarians removed FGM from a domestic violence bill, saying it was a cultural matter.
Marian Deah is the Executive Officer of Women Solidarity Incorporated (WOSI), an ActionAid Liberia partner that works with communities in FGM-practicing areas.
“We inform women and girls about the human rights implications and the health consequences. When doing this, we take along a health practitioner who has undergone the practice and knows the effects of it,” she told us.
FGM in Liberia is closely linked with the Sande secret society, which initiates girls into adulthood by rituals including FGM. About four in 10 women and girls aged 15-49 are members of this society.
Men as decision makers
As well as teaching women and girls about their own rights, WOSI separately speaks to men and boys about the consequences of FGM. Deah said this is extremely important as men traditionally make the decisions in Liberian households.
In Africa, especially in Liberia, the men make most of the decisions. So if the men agree and say ‘My daughter will undergo this practice’, it means it will happen. So if the men are convinced and know that this is harmful, it reduces the practice.
Deah said the prevalence of FGM has reduced from 58% in 2007 to 44% in 2013, showing that their efforts are having an impact.
Many people are still reluctant to report FGM to the police due to the lack of an outright ban and the stigma they may face from their local community.
Threats
Deah is currently supporting one family who are taking legal action because their daughter was forced to undergo FGM without their knowledge and died about a week later due to complications.
She said the family will need to move to another area when the case begins because they will likely face intimidation and threats.
WOSI and other groups have drafted legislation, with input from community leaders and legal experts, which is expected to be submitted to parliament in the coming months.
If enacted, it would mean a complete ban on FGM in Liberia. Deah said this would be a major boost in terms of stamping out the practice and seeking prosecutions.
Deah and Gbah are among the speakers at an anti-FGM event taking place in the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin at 10am today. A public meeting and screening of the documentary Girls From Earth will take place in The Rotunda Foundation in Dublin at 6pm.
ActionAid Ireland supports the AFTER – Against Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Through Empowerment and Rejection – project, which is funded by the European Union and aims to eliminate FGM.
The organisation recently ran a pilot programme in Cork to raise awareness among migrant women about the dangers of FGM. Participants said the initiative changed their opinion of what they had previously regarded as a normalised practice, and that they now have the confidence to reject it.
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Keep up the good work! If only one girl is spared this horrific practice then the message is getting through. There is no basis, religious or otherwise, for a girl to be cut. She will not be any purer. She will not be any more chaste. She WILL be left with terrible health issues for the rest of her life. She will be more likely to die from infection and/or complications and if not she will have horrendous pain for her entire life. End FGM.
@Rachel Durack Murray: look again at who practices this ……..,
Surely there is no FGM in ireland .We are always told that these people fully integrate into the Irish way of life.
@Sean Murphy: ha ha so you’re in the 20% of people who believe what you’re told?
@Marcia Craine: You’re in the 10% who don’t get sarcasm :-)
Fair play ladies, can’t be easy to go against the cultural and religious grain like that. Male circumcision on non medical grounds is also barbaric genital mutilation and should be outlawed.
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali: not quite the same thing Boutros.
@Keith D’Arcy: I wouldn’t be volunteering for either, Keith.
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali:
correct MGM is also horrific and unnecessary
but for some reason seems to be more acceptable by society.
@Keith D’Arcy: also not totally without serious consequences and should be banned outright. Religious b@ll@x
@Boutros Boutros-Ghali: It’s a pity there aren’t more men speaking out about cultural circumcision. It’s carried out as a matter of routine in the states. I’ve never come across a serious movement against it or an international call to ban it.
@Keith D’Arcy: Does it have to be exactly the same thing Keith? That’s rather sad. MGM is much more prevalent, much less questioned and equally indefensible. You’re either against mutilation or you’re not.
@Keith D’Arcy: Exactly the same, mutilation of a person for cultural or religious reasons. Not medical reasons. If the principal is lost in one case then it’s lost in all.
There’s no words for this barbaric mutilation of female children, girls or young women. It’s beyond comprehension.
@Dave Doyle: Savage practice, practised by savages
Anyone who thinks that this barbaric practice isn’t being carried on here and the women and girls disclosing they had undergone this barbaric procedure in the census had had it performed in some far away place are deluded. There is also evidence from the UK of parents having children mutilated to bolster claims for asylum on the basis their other daughters would be mutilated if they were deported home. The joys of imported diversity.
@Peter O’Muiri: Couple accused of genital mutilation of their daughter sent forward for trial http://jrnl.ie/3828298 From just 5 days ago.
@rse biscuits: yeah just what we need in the country more child abusers, if found guilty surely can’t receive asylum but this is Ireland, they will get a suspended sentence and a nice benefits package
Barbaric practice. Anyone found guilty of this crime should be fecked out of the country. This is not a problem of the Irish people’s making, we should not have to pay for the cost of jail time for such people!
@Con Murphy:
Is it not questionable that Ireland has allowed migrations of people into the country who have no cultural, familial or other connection to the country or its people?
We are truly culturally enriched.
@Fran Lonergan: and racist don’t forget racist.
@Deborah Behan:
Certainly there is racism, especially with the ever broadening definition it is difficult not to fall within its bounds. But is criticising, or questioning immigration policy, racist? Or pointing out the bleedin’ obvious?
@Fran Lonergan: known as being a FACTIST
I’ve often wondered if the men who make this decision had a certain part of their body removed with any medication/ pain relief would they continue to insist that this barbaric practise is carried out.
@bings: Yes many of the men are also circumcised. While not as detrimental to health it does result in death and other medical complications.
@anthony seymour: it says it in the article that the men make the decision and women do the cutting. If the man says no then it doesn’t happen which is why they want to also educate men.
They could always apply for asylum in Nigeria/Liberia
There’s a lot to be said for education.
@Nollaig Elliot: thumbs up
FGM should not be tolerated under any circumstances, it’s child abuse dressed up as religious tradition.
@Eleanor of Aquitaine:
Agreed it’s abuse. But a lot more than child abuse. It’s abuse at every stage of her life. She lives forever with the physical dangers it poses to her body.
@Eleanor of Aquitaine: Its child abuse, but 100 times worse than any other form of child abuse, The child’s been mutilated for life.
Brutal tribal practice designed to destroy female libido and is ultimately to control women. Savages. Can I say that? I’ll say it again and you can’t refute it. Any people that practise FGM are savages.
@Kevin Slater: Educate, Educate, Education should be established on this Brutal Procedure, from early school years.!!
@Kevin Slater: Spot on about the libido Kevin. This is often ignored when fgm is discussed.
Like in this article the long term consequences are listed. A list of terrible physical ailments. But no mention of never being able to experience an orgasm.
I feel that the taking away of a woman’s ability to experience sexual desire is the removal of an essential part of what makes us human.
Imagine never feeling it. It would be like trying to describe colour to a blind person.
These poor women.
@Kevin Slater: well said Kevin Slater!! You hit the nail on the head!!
Great awareness to be raised. I’d recommend listening to the James O’Brien podcast where he interviews Nimco Ali, she founded Daughters of Eve and has been campaigning to end FGM. It was a tough listen but really eye opening.
Feckng hell….there is so much wrong with and heart breaking about this practice of mutilating girls and woman, that I don’ think know where to begin. Just stop it.
What is punishment for carrying out this savagery in Ireland??
What does Ibrahim Halawa and his Muslim Brotherhood family say about it.
Nothing! and neither does any of Pompous Hypocritical Politicians or Do-Gooders.
@Joe Byrne: This is also done in Christian countries. It’s cultural.
WTF would the Halawas be chatting about it to you?
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Just an article, no mass demonstration by incenced women with placards, so no solidarity at all.
@Tom&Gerry: if there was no doubt you’d be on here crying about it!
@Tom&Gerry: You’re a woman. Why aren’t you protesting or is that for everyone else to do? Where’s your solidarity with these girls and women?
Animals who practice this on innocent kids need to be put out of circulation,just after their parents, no place in western society for this disgusting act
ANIMALS!!
@Paul Culligan: Animals don’t do things like that!
@John Mc Donagh: True. Apologies to the Animals.
Where are all those feminists who scream hatred against President Trump??
Looks like the hate Trump more tham FGM
Where are all those Hollywood snowflakes when a real cause needs highlighting.
Yet more proof of the inherit stupidity and downright arrogance of some cultures. Not surprising to see it’s a practice of some religions
@Joseph Howard: I read some articles on countries in the midst of civil wars, where they genuinely hoped that it might protect their daughters against rape. It may not be a religion thing at all. More like mediaeval Europe with mercenary soldiers preying on villages, at least in some places. Awful thing to do, of course, ignorant and damaging, but I don’t think it’s part of any religion.
@Joseph Howard:
Proof that all cultures are not equal.
@Joseph Howard: Including Christianity.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: How would it stop rape? If anything it would make rape even more painful.
In the case of the couple charged with mutilating their daughter:
“At their first hearing on 21 December last, they they swore on the Koran they would abide by the bail conditions and that that they would not to apply for travel documents after they were ordered to surrender their passports.”
Those who do it and facilitate it should be charged. The victims should be able to sue for damages, all concerned.
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