 |
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting ~ Monday, February 6th, 2012
United in Support for Zero Tolerance to FGM/C
On this day, the U.S. Government stands in solidarity with people around the world who are observing the Ninth Annual International Zero Tolerance Day to Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). FGM/C refers to the procedure involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. It is estimated that 100 to 140 million women around the world have undergone this procedure and 3 million girls are at risk every year.
FGM/C is often performed by untrained practitioners who employ no anesthesia and often use such instruments as broken glass, tin lids, scissors, or unsterilized razors. In addition to causing intense pain and psychological trauma, the procedure carries with it severe short and long-term health risks, including hemorrhaging, infection including increased risk of HIV transmission, birth complications, and even death.
FGM/C is a practice rooted in belief about the "dangers" of women's sexuality. It involves a rite of passage into adulthood that has extremely negative consequences on health and overall mental well-being of women and girls around the world. It is a practice that hinders women's access to equality and violates the rights and dignity of women and girls.
Some still defend this practice as a part of a cultural or religious tradition. But, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reiterated, violence toward women and girls isn't cultural – it's criminal. As with slavery, what was once justified as sanctioned by God is now properly reviled as an unconscionable violation of human rights.
USAID Success Story
In Egypt, a female outreach worker provides parents with health information regarding the dangers of female genital cutting. Read more
Photo: Takamol Project
FGM/C is a practice that occurs across cultures and religions, although in fact no religion mandates the procedure. This practice is performed on girls in many countries in Africa as well as Asia and the Middle East. In the United States, the procedure also takes place among some immigrant communities; the U.S. Government has worked with practitioners in the health and legal communities to sensitize them about the negative consequences of FGM/C.
Around the world, community-based approaches involving women and men, girls and boys, religious leaders, and all members of society are proving to be the only lasting solutions. In fact, community advocates have found that when men come to understand the physical and psychological trauma of FGM/C, they often become the most effective activists for eradication, including fathers who unequivocally refuse to allow their daughters to be subjected to the procedure. Communities must act collectively to abandon the practice, so that girls and their families who opt out do not become social outcasts. Communities working together to abandon FGM/C can ensure stronger, healthier futures for girls, young women, and their families.
The U.S. Government is proud to support women and men around the world who denounce this egregious practice and seek to abolish it. It is exciting to see communities around the world standing up together against FGM/C to overturn deeply entrenched social norms that are not only harmful to women and girls, but to our communities and societies.
Learn More About the Practice of FGM/C
Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) refers to all procedures that involve the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure is mostly performed on girls sometimes between infancy and age 15, and occasionally on adult women.
The practice of FGM/C has no health benefits for women and girls and is associated with both short and long-term negative risks for physically, mental and sexual health and well-being. Immediate negative physical consequences of the practice can include severe pain, shock, bleeding, and infection, including increased risk for HIV transmission. Longer-term consequences to women and girls can be severe, such as recurrent bladder or urinary tract infections, infertility, and increased risk complications in childbirth and newborn death.
FGM/C is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, including their rights to health, security and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and the right to life. The practice reflects deep cultural inequality between the sexes and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls.
The reasons for conducting FGM/C encompass beliefs about social conventions, marriageability, health, hygiene, what is considered proper sexual behavior for women, cultural ideals of feminine behavior and modesty, and the rites of passage to adulthood. Thus the practice is sustained by social reinforcement, including the idea that girls and women will face shame, exclusion, and diminished marriage prospects if they do not undergo the procedure. In countries where FGM/C is prevalent, the custom is practiced across all social and economic classes.
Learn About the Prevalence of FGM/C
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that between 100 and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to some form of FGM/C. Estimates based on the most recent prevalence data indicate that nearly 92 million girls age 10 years and older are estimated to have undergone FGM/C. But this is an underestimation, as procedures are mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and 15 years. FGM/C is practiced predominantly in Africa and has also been documented in the Middle East, Asia, and in tribal and African immigrant communities in Europe and the western hemisphere.
Africa: There are an estimated 3 million girls in Africa at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation/cutting every year. FGM/C has been documented in the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chat, Ctte D'ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania. Six African countries have extremely high prevalence rates (in some cases 90 and above): Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea, Somalia, Sudan, and Sierra Leone.
Middle East: FGM/C also occurs in certain countries of the Middle East to a much lesser extent, such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Kurdish regions of Iran and Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. Due to under-reporting, the rates may be much higher.
South, Central, and East Asia: While not well-documented, there are reports that FGM/C is practiced in small percentages in Pakistan and India among the Bohra Muslims, and in less drastic forms in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines. There have been recent press reports of the practice occurring in the Maldives, but these reports are unconfirmed.
Western Hemisphere, Europe, and Oceania: In small numbers, FGGM/C is practiced amongst tribal groups in Mexico, Peru, ad Brazil, in a procedure called introcision. It also occurs among immigrants from African or Middle Eastern countries in the United States, various European countries, and Australia.
Eliminating FGM/C - Strategies and U.S. Government Efforts
Given the propensity for social norms to reinforce and perpetuate the practice of FGM/C, strategies for its elimination must include culturally sensitive approaches and target large core groups of unified abandonment. Key stakeholders to leverage for elimination include the healthcare community, religious and community leaders, parliamentarians, and civil society. rograms and activities to support the elimination of FGM/C can take the form of broader human rights education, media campaigns, community debates and discussions that promote a community-wide consensus and legal and policy support through the passage and enforcement of laws that prevent the practice.
USAID works with community and religious leaders, women's groups, and men, women, and youth to improve conditions that will lead to the abandonment of the practice to improve the quality and effectiveness of abandonment efforts. It has supported projects in countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso.
In 2000, USAID officially incorporated abandonment of FGM/C into its development agenda. The agency has an official policy and strategy on FGM/C. USAID’s FGM/C projects are culturally sensitive and integrated with health, economic, social and democracy and governance programs. The agency also pursues regional, national, and local coordination among international donors, governments, and community leaders.
USAID supports:
- Research to identify effective FGM/C abandonment programs
- Raising awareness of the issues at the international, nation, and local level
- Integrating FGM/C projects into existing development
- Programs in a variety of sectors
- Training of medical providers of the health consequences of FGM/C
- Collaboration among organizations addressing FGM/C
- Increasing donor support of FGM/C
- Government efforts to pass policies and legislation that prohibit the practice
At the Department of State, the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) and the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor are providing funding through public and private initiatives with organizations focused on the prevention of an response to FGM/C such as Wadi in Iraq; the Aga Khan Foundation in Egypt; and the Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP), Female Lawyers Association of the Gambia (FLAG), and Forum for African Women Educationalists - the Gambia Chapter (FAWEGAM-GAMBIA) in Gambia. PRM is working NGOS such as care and the International Rescue Committee to promote awareness and prevention of FGM/C in refugee settings.
International Efforts: In 2007 the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) and United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) launched a joint program for the 40 percent reduction of FGM/C in target communities by 2012. Their efforts focus on 17 countries in Africa, and since 2008 has implemented in eight countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Senegal, and Sudan. USAID and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and S/GWI also work through Multilateral fora to encourage positive policy changes at the national level, including the commission on the status of women.
The Donors Working Group on FGM/C (DWG) seeks to bring together key international actors under a common platform for action. The platform emphasizes community empowerment and education, public community-wide pledges, and national-level support (see resources below).
Model Program: The Senegal-based NGO Tostan is considered a model program to eliminate FGM/C. Tostan recognizes that communities as a whole must drive the successful abandonment of FGM/C practices. By offering programs that increase awareness of the negative health consequences of FGM/C, communities engage in discussion about their future practices. AS of July 2011, 6,236 communities across seven countries in Africa have abandoned FGM/C as a result of Tostan's programs. More information is available at www.tostan.org.
Resources on FGM/C
|
Visit the Global Health webpage on the 
Read the IMPACT Blog post on 
Join the conversation by 
Read More
