Egypt to sharpen laws against Female Genital Mutilation

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Egypt to sharpen laws against Female Genital Mutilation

Robert Hackwill

 

 

CAIRO: -- Egypt announced this weekend it intends to tighten legislation against Female Genital Mutilation, and has published a proposed law that will hit anyone performing the operation with up to seven years in jail.

 

The government wants to crack down on the practice, which is already against the law, but is widely used nonetheless.

 

FGM is characterised by the partial or total removal of a woman’s external genital organs when no medical reason for the procedure is indicated. It can cause severe bleeding, pain, shock, recurrent urinary tract infections, cysts and infertility. It increases the risk of labour complications and new-born deaths. The procedure itself can prove fatal.

 

It also significantly lowers the feelings of pleasure experienced while love-making.

 

A UNICEF report published in February declared that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have suffered FGM in 30 countries, mainly in Africa.

 

FGM is recognised internationally as a fundamental violation of womens’ and girls’ rights.

 

Of those 30 countries, Egypt is high on the list. The percentage of women in the 15 to 49 age group to have suffered sexual mutilation is highest in Somalia, (98%), followed by Guinea, (97%), Djibouti, (91%), and Sierra Leone, (90%). Mali is next, with 89%, followed by Egypt, with 87%. Eritrea completes the high-percentage group, with 83%.

 

Forty-four million girls under the age of 14 have also been harmed in this way, mainly in the Gambia, (56%), followed by Mauritania, (54%), and Indonesia, (49%).

In the latter around half of all girls aged under 11 have been cut.

 

Ifrah Salad Abdulle, a 17-year-old, lives in a refugee camp that hosts thousands of displaced Somalis fleeing the two-decades long civil war. Many are sick as a result of complications after FGM.

 

“I underwent FGM at the age of eight,” says Ifrah. “I experienced many problems when I was circumcised. I was at home, in great pain and bedridden for several days due to the stitches, my legs were tied together to ensure I didn’t move so the stitches would stay in place. I was unable to pass urine normally, I had to lie on my side in order to urinate.”

 

At Benadir Hospital in Mogadishu victims stream in for treatment, either for reconstructive surgery or complicated pregnancies.

 

Doctor Maryam Omar Salad said the practice results in major complications during child delivery, endangering the lives of both the mother and the unborn child.

 

“When the baby comes into the birth canal, it cannot exit, and the baby becomes asphyxiated and later on becomes a stillbirth or after a long resuscitation, can also develop cerebral palsy. A c-section may be the only solution, with its attendant risks,” she says.

 

Many countries have strengthened their laws to try and crack down on the practice, and on a more local level many communities are taking a public stand against FGM saysUNICEF in its February report. They are opening cracks in the edifice that allows the organisation to hope for progress on the issue.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-08-30

 

[Class C]

Very pleased to hear this. These predominantly Muslim countries that practice FGM need to ask themselves: "why cut out what God/Allah has given ?"

 

[helpisgood]

It's about freakin' time! 

 

These countries need to leave the 1st century on this issue- or whenever it originated way in the past before modern science - and stop brutally harming little girls for foolish and barbaric reasons.  From what I have read, very many of these children are forced to do so and are much too young, of course, to give an informed consent to so alter their lives.  

Edited August 30, 2016 by helpisgood

[hhinhh]

It is unbeleavable that such things happen to so many humans worldwide in 21st centurty. And all governments which do not put severe pressure on countries which do not enforce long term sentences to those inhuman criminals are to blame as well.

Edited August 30, 2016 by hhinhh

[Dustdevil]

I might add, at the risk of sounding pompous, that the headline constitutes a pun in poor taste.

[dddave]

So difficult to eradicate FGM but there has been a major decrease in many African countries, especially Kenya.

The biggest obstacle are the grandmothers who rule most conservative Muslim (and even some Christian) families.  It was done to them and they believe it an essential part of their culture.  Their greatest fear is a girl will not be marriageable if she is not circumcised. Is is not unusual for grandmothers to secretly take a girl to be circumcised if the parents object to having it done.

Many Somalians living in the US and Europe fear sending their daughters to Somalia to visit relatives because they worry older women will try to have them cut.  

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Just another indication of Muslim mens fear of being reported as inadequate, and failures of sexual performance.

 

[Steely Dan]

Such is the wheel of life, the Middle East hit bottom with the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS, now there is only one way for it to go.

I predict many more small improvements such as this in the lives of people in this long suffering region.


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[Rod Gold]

There they go, breaking with tradition.  What's next?  No more beating of wives and female children in public?  No more beheading of women in the town square?   What is this world coming too?  What kind of future can I leave for my sons?  Allah be Praised!

[Thorgal]

There's no direct link with Islam as it was almost predictable that some people would suggest the opposite.

FGM's origins in Africa are pre-Islamic.




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[Opl]

Egypt also has a problem with sexual harassment , "Taharrush GAMEA" is a deformation (from the Egyptian accent) FROM "Taharrush Jamai" (Arabic التحرش الجنسي الجماعي).an expression meaning "sexual harassment by a mob," "GAMEA" referring to the crowd.

This is what happened in Köln during new year's eve.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2016 by Opl

[Andaman Al]

I new a Somalian guy once who kept coming to the UK for business, he got himself a girlfriend and was quite obsessed with her. He said she was amazing at sex and we asked why. He commented that she just enjoys it so much and wants more! He carried on to say that no woman in Somalia enjoys or wants sex - because they have all been butchered. The one heartening thing that came of his infidelity was that he said under no circumstances will he allow his 4 year old daughter to undergo FGM. 1 down 1 billion to go !

 

This is a serious and desperate situation for many young girls, a lot of whom have to undergo full labia removal and clitorosectamy  (sp) without any form of anaesthetic. It is with bearing that in mind that I feel it totally inappropriate for the thread headline to be what it is. I like a laugh, but this is not a funny news item guys, it is very serious and everyday young young girls are seriously mutilated and have their sex lives ruined forever. It is not humorous in the least. Can we change the thread title please. Thank you.

[simple1]

11 hours ago, Rod Gold said:

There they go, breaking with tradition.  What's next?  No more beating of wives and female children in public?  No more beheading of women in the town square?   What is this world coming too?  What kind of future can I leave for my sons?  Allah be Praised!

 

In Egypt the majority of Christian Copts also practice FGM, as do other Christian communities in Africa, it is not solely an Islamic cultural practice.

[stander]

Female genital mutilation is just another example of  the barbaric religious and cultural practices of Islam  

[HLover]

Female genital mutilation is just another example of  the barbaric religious and cultural practices of Islam  

What category does circumcision fall under?

[Thorgal]

Female genital mutilation is just another example of  the barbaric religious and cultural practices of Islam  

There's a historical parallel of FGM and the Atlantic Slave Trade...


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[sambum]

Barbaric! I can think of no better word to describe this "practice" and those who approve of its use.

[NativeSon360]

This really is, indeed, the last civilization of people, on this planet, duh!

[Rupert Pupkin]

This is great, at least something good happening in African continent. A good step towards women security.  

[Naam]

On 8/31/2016 at 8:17 AM, stander said:

Female genital mutilation is just another example of  the barbaric religious and cultural practices of Islam  

 

yada yada yakety-yak...   that mutilation was practised long before Islam existed, is still practised by some coptic Christians in Egypt and in a number African countries by non-Islamic ethnic groups.