Millions of girls and young women suffer genital mutilation every year, a brutal practice rooted in gender inequality that leaves deep physical and psychological scars. Western perspectives tend to universally condemn FGM, labelling it as a barbaric and backward practice. However, legal instruments alone cannot stop a practice so deeply rooted in many communities.
Silvia Caschera
3 July 2024
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision, is a deeply rooted cultural practice prevalently practiced in Africa and, to a lesser extent, in Asia and the Middle East. This harmful traditional practice involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Given the brutality of these practices, an increasingly heated debate has arisen concerning their compatibility with human rights.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, primarily in 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. FGM is often justified by a mix of cultural, religious, and social factors within families and communities. It is erroneously linked to religion, believed to preserve a girl’s virginity, and considered a rite of passage to womanhood. However, no religious scripts require this brutal practice.
FGM has no health benefits and only harms girls and women. It involves removing healthy and normal female genital tissue, thereby interfering with the natural functions of girls’ and women’s bodies. Immediate complications can include severe pain, shock, and haemorrhage; long-term consequences can range from recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, cysts, infertility, childbirth complications, and newborn deaths. FGM reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. The practice violates their rights to health, security, and physical integrity, their right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and their right to life when the procedure results in death.
Given all these horrific negative effects for the involved women and girls, why is this practice still supported by a majority of the local communities in which FGM is performed? It is true that the mothers themselves urge their daughters to undergo this cruel procedure to ensure their own and their daughters’ social status, respect, and integration into the community. FGM is not only a rite of initiation and passage of women into adulthood, but also a marking of sexual identity. These communities believe that women who have undergone mutilation are more docile and faithful because of the alleged decrease in sexual urges resulting from the practice. Modern science has shown that there is no positive correlation between a decrease in the sensitivity of the genitals and a decrease in sexual desire, the latter of which for women stems mostly from the psyche. Thus, overwhelming social pressure to conform and the subjugated position of women in these communities play an important role in the endurance of FGM in the world.
The Western world first encountered this practice in the early 1990s, due to the incessant migratory flows to Europe. The European Union then took action to involve European states in the fight against FGM by first considering it ‘as a form of human rights violation to be prosecuted both civilly and criminally’ (European Parliament Resolution of 2001). Before 1993, the response of various nations to the urgency of addressing the problem was to “medicalize” circumcisions by having them performed by specialized doctors, to merely reduce the number of victims. Only since the World Conference of Human Rights in Vienna (1993) has Female Genital Mutilations been defined as a violation of human rights.
Today, FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of human rights, the rights of children, and the rights of women. The United Nations Day for Zero Tolerance is a meaningful observance that emphasizes the global commitment to eradicate female genital mutilation. Celebrated annually on 6 February, this day provides a platform for voices advocating for the rights and well-being of women and girls worldwide.
Several international legal instruments addressing FGM exist: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Specific legal obligations exist for the African continent, including the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the Maputo Protocol. The latest obliges States to implement legislation against FGM, as well as other measures such as public awareness, support to survivors, and protection of women at risk. However, the legal status of FGM differs widely across the world. As of 2020, FGM was illegal in 22 of the 28 most FGM-prevalent countries in Africa. FGM remains hard to combat since eight times out of ten, it is carried out in secret.
Despite the numerous legal instruments, FGM continues to be a significant challenge. The problem with countering such cruelty is that the whole approach is based on Western standards that do not conceive of any positive aspects that come with female circumcision, as they are linked to the social customs of the communities involved. In those communities in Africa or Asia where FGM is practices, the pain and possible health consequences are often taken into account by the women who hope to gain social benefits and a high economic standing by being circumcised. What for the West is inconceivable, in other cultures is even desirable.
Unfortunately, like all practices deeply rooted within societies, FGM is not easy to eradicate. The mere creation of laws and regulations is insufficient, and although effective legal instruments are necessary to punish those who continue to practice female circumcision on girls and young women, only a significant advancement in the education and socio-economic status of females around the world can trigger the positive effect that will eventually result in the progressive and ultimate disappearance of this barbaric practice.
