Genital mutilation 'torture'
2006-06-02 09:45
Geneva - The World Health Organisation said on Friday that female genital mutilation is a form of "torture" that must be stamped out, even if it is performed by trained medical personnel.
The "medicalisation" of female genital mutilation - often called female circumcision and also known as FGM - fails to prevent innocent girls from being permanently scarred by the procedure, threatening them as adults when giving birth and endangering the lives of their newborn babies, WHO said in unveiling a report on genital mutilation's maternal health effects.
Performing genital mutilation "is the worst thing that a medical doctor could possibly do," said Joy Phumaphi, WHO assistant director-general and a former health minister from Botswana.
"It is even worse than turning a blind eye, because you are legitimising violation of a basic human right and violence against an innocent victim."
There can be no justification for doctors and nurses "to come and supervise the torture," Phumaphi said.
100 million mutilated
Genital mutilation is practised primarily in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. It normally is performed on girls under 10. More than 100 million women and girls worldwide are believed to have been genitally mutilated, the UN health agency said.
The mutilation usually involves removal of the clitoris. Those who advocate it believe it tames a girl's sexual desires, maintains her honour and increases her marriageability. It is practised by both Muslims and Christians.
An estimated three million women and girls undergo genital mutilation each year, according to Unicef. Nearly half of the girls affected annually are in Egypt and Ethiopia, but groups continue the rite in at least two dozen other countries.
'A horrendous practice'
"When the world is trying to save animals, when the world is trying to save plants, women in Africa are subjected to unnecessary torture in the name of tradition," said Berhane Ras-Work, president of the non-governmental group IAC, which campaigns against genital mutilation.
"It is a horrendous practice, it should not be allowed, it should be condemned, it should be stopped."
Birth risk
WHO's study, published on Friday in The Lancet medical journal, found that women who have suffered the most serious form of genital mutilation have a 70% greater chance of experiencing post-childbirth haemorrhage compared with women who weren't mutilated.
In countries where childbirth mortality rates for women are already high, "this particular process is practically a death sentence for them," Phumaphi said.
Children of genitally mutilated women also are at greater risk, the study found. Depending on the severity of the mutilation, neonatal death rates for these children range from 15 to 55% higher compared to other babies.
Countries stamping it out
WHO's study involved over 28 000 women in six African countries where FGM is common - Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.
Ras-Work said some countries in Africa were doing better than others in trying to snuff out the practice. She cited Burkina Faso and Senegal as positive examples of where attitudes were being changed and FGM was declining.
While all 28 countries mentioned in the report have pledged to combat genital mutilation, most have failed to enforce laws or implement policies aimed at eradicating the practice, Ras-Work said.
Chad, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Sudan are examples of countries that need to do more, she said.
- AP