2024-03-26 04:00:20
Female genital mutilation (FGM) continues to take a heavy toll on girls and women around the world. In eight years, the number of women of all ages who have endured one form or another of these practices has increased from 200 million to 230 million, an increase of 15%, according to a Unicef report published on March 7. According to the UN agency, this increase is due ” first of all “ to the rapid growth of the population in several countries where FGM is practiced. The percentage of the population affected is also decreasing in several countries.
But this decline “isn’t fast enough”, comments Wisal Ahmed, the coordinator of the joint program of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF against FGM. She adds that we should go “twenty-seven times faster” to achieve eradication in 2030, which is part of the sustainable development goals targeted by the UN.
“Girls are being subjected to this harmful practice at younger and younger ages, often before their fifth birthday, further narrowing our window for intervention,” underlined the director general of Unicef, Catherine Russell, in a press release.
FGMs are justified most of the time by the concern for chastity and supposed purity. According to UNFPA, this includes controlling women’s sexuality and guaranteeing their virginity – in certain communities, FGM is a condition of access to marriage. They can be a decisive factor in social inclusion and part of coming-of-age rituals, and are often seen as a religious commandment – particularly in some Muslim communities.
High health risks
UNFPA and the World Health Organization distinguish three main types of mutilation. The first consists of a clitoridectomy – total or partial removal of the clitoris or even the clitoral foreskin; the second, commonly called excision, adds the total or partial removal of the labia minora and possibly the labia majora; the third type, or infibulation, involves narrowing the vaginal opening by cutting and repositioning the labia, sometimes using suture. It can be added to an ablation of the clitoris.
Short-term health risks are high (severe pain, hemorrhage, infections) and can lead to death. In the medium and long term, complications often arise such as difficulty urinating, painful periods, pain during sexual intercourse and difficult childbirth with life risk for the newborn.
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