Female genital mutilation includes all procedures consisting of partial or total resection of the female external genitalia and other lesions of the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It has no beneficial effect on health and harms women and girls in many ways. (WHO)
Three million girls and teenagers in the world suffer ablation every year, countries like Kenya have banned this practice but being so rooted in local customs is very difficult to eradicate.
This was explained on Tuesday the World Vision Spain Project Director, Susanna Oliver, in an act in which she has been accompanied by the gynecological specialist Ignacio Palomo and the Kenyans Jennifer Kibon, Janet Naningo and Tabitha Portereu, gathered in Madrid to tell their experience on the occasion of the celebration, this February 6, of World Day for the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation.
Oliver has pointed out that 140 million women around the world have their mutilated genitals. Although the incidence depends on the country, the tribe and even within it, the family itself, there are places like Mali where 98% of the citizens have suffered ablation.
The age of the victims also varies. It is generally understood that genital mutilation is a pre-marriage step, a preparation for adulthood: eight or nine year old girls are practiced. However, Oliver explains that each time it is done at earlier ages to avoid that the time has come, they can oppose. Cases of girls of three, two years and even babies abound.
A whole world of consequences around ablation
As we have said, the ritual of ablation is so ingrained in some customs that those women who have not suffered it can be rejected by the tribe and for example do not allow them to be in the circumcision ceremony, although I do not know as a woman who does not admits ablation can admit circumcision, or you can't inherit property if your husband dies, you can't even get married.
For all this, society is trying to raise awareness to eradicate the ablation of its culture, trying to show that the ablation does not bring any benefit and if many problems, such as infections and hemorrhages that can cause death, HIV infection, hepatitis, fistulas or incontinence, sexual dysfunctions and severe complications in case of pregnancy and childbirth.
But they are not only physical wounds, but also mental ones. The process is so traumatic that many girls will drag a trauma without even knowing they have it, which will cause rejection of their society, sexuality or their own body. In fact, it is considered to be similar to that suffered during a violation.
Lack of recognition of rights to women
Mutilation is directly related to many other practices that start from the lack of recognition of rights to women, such as forced marriage, usually child, in exchange for a dowry. Thus, to eradicate it, it is not enough to offer information and awareness about its consequences. This information should be reinforced with a progressive advance in women's rights, promoting the development of their own livelihoods as a fundamental part of the process.
Things are changing, but very little by little. The World Vision project in Marigat, west of Kenya, mixes all these elements, as Parteneu has pointed out. When it started in 2006, 94.9 percent of the female population suffered ablation. In 2010 the incidence had already been reduced to 58.1%, more than 15,000 people have received training and 3,046 girls have been prevented from being mutilated. In parallel, working with the circumcisers, so that they have other livelihoods and many end up becoming activists against ablation.
They also maintain an emergency reception center, where 19 girls who have fled home like Janet and 64 boys who otherwise could not access basic education reside.
I have met with those who think that this practice is part of an ancestral custom that belongs to the roots of a people and therefore must be respected. In my humble opinion, such practices should be pursued and their memory erased from the pages of history. Something like that is a crime, no matter how much you put on makeup and it is absolutely deleasable.
Today, February 6, the World Day against Female Genital Mutilation. We remember that this practice It is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights of women and girls. Enough of makeup.
