Female Genital Mutilation Violates Human Rights

There is a life-threatening practice taking place today that nobody talks about. In the wake of the world’s silence, it continues to happen to young women in countries around the world. The ritual is Female Genital Mutilation and it happens far too often. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) can also be referred to as Female Genital Cutting (FGC) or female circumcision. All three terms refer to cutting part or all of a female’s external genitalia off. FGM is most commonly practiced in Central Africa, Southern Sahara and the Middle East. FGM is not a part of any religion but is often mistaken for a religious rite of passage. There are currently no statistics showing how many females in North America undergo FGM. But make no mistake, it does happen here. But, as a small veil of protection, there are laws in Canada and the U.S., as well as many other western countries that outlaw FGM. In many African countries where FGM is often performed, there are no laws against it or repercussions for those that perform the crude procedure.

FGM is not a rare misfortune that happens only to the unlucky few. FGM has been practiced on an estimated 100 million to 140 million females worldwide. Each year, three million more girls are at risk of undergoing FGM against their will. Usually FGM is performed on minors, some as babies. Some supporters of FGM say it is comparable to having breast enhancement surgery. However, the girls who undergo FGM are not choosing to do so. They are too young to make that choice. Sometimes FGM is performed on girls as young as two weeks old. FGM is not a surgery to enhance a female’s body; it is a way of partially destroying a female’s body and her mental health. Any doctor performing breast surgery decides that the patient who asks for the procedure is physically and mentally capable of handling the surgery. When doctors do perform FGM, it is usually because they are hoping that if the procedure is done in a sterile environment with actual medical tools the patient will not suffer as much as someone who undergoes FGM at home. Because when FGM is done at home it is generally not done with medical tools. There is no anaesthetic, no team of medical professionals ready to deal with any complications. No, when FGM is done at home it is more likely that a crude, unsanitary instrument such as knife, rock or even a shard of glass is used to remove part of the female’s genitalia. The person performing the rudimentary operation usually has no medical training and may even use the same dirty instrument to perform FGM on several girls in a row without sterilizing the instrument, possibly causing infectious diseases to pass from female to female.

Many complications often arise from FGM, both in the short-term and the long-term. According to the U.S. National Women’s Health Information Centre, women who undergo FGM can experience bleeding or hemorrhaging to the point of death; infection, sometimes to the point of sepsis; severe pain from a lack of anesthesia; and physical or psychological trauma from being held down during FGM. In the long-term, females who undergo FGM can experience long-term problems such as difficulty urinating; inability to have sex without pain due to scars or bumps on their vagina; painful menstruation; increased risk of sexually transmitted infections; difficulty getting pregnant; and extreme psychological or emotion stress resulting in anxiety, sleep disorders or depression. Unlike male circumcision, which is said to reduce a male’s chances of getting HIV through heterosexual sex by 60 per cent, female circumcision has no medical benefits whatsoever.

Until now, many countries have been largely silent about FGM. This week, political movers and shakers in 27 African countries gathered together to try to end the cruel practice that is FGM. These activists gathered in Dakar, Senegal (in western Africa) on Monday for a two-day conference to fight for the United Nations to ban female genital mutilation as an infringement on human rights. 19 African countries, including Senegal, have banned FGM in an attempt to eradicate the practice by 2015. A nationwide campaign from 2000-2005 has been credited with reducing FGM by 70 per cent in Senegal, giving statistical power to the idea that awareness, education and discussion about FGM can lead to the reduction of the practice. The United Nations must recognize FGM as a violation of human rights and call for all its member countries to outlaw the harmful practice to protect the next generation of women in Africa.