The number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) could be much higher than previously estimated, as a new report shows the practice is carried out in more than 90 countries around the world.
The UN estimates that 200 million women and girls have undergone FGM — but this figure is drawn from only 31 countries — 27 in Africa — where national data have been collected.
After pulling together data from indirect estimates, smaller surveys, academic studies and from anecdotal evidence, researchers from Equality Now, the End FGM European Network and the US End FGM/C Network found that hundreds of thousands of cases have been documented across 92 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Latin America.
Photo: AP
FGM involves the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia for non-medical reasons.
In the report published yesterday, the three organizations are calling on governments to commission national surveys to create a more accurate picture of global prevalence rates, which would allow a more cohesive response to the problem.
Divya Srinivasan, a lawyer and Equality Now’s South Asia consultant, said the purpose of the report was to “spotlight that it is happening all over the world.”
PROGRESS IN AFRICA
Srinivasan said the focus on stopping FGM has been targeted in Africa, where there has been some success.
A study published in 2018 showed that prevalence rates had fallen sharply across Africa since the mid-1990s. In east Africa the rates fell from 71.4 percent in 1995 to just 8 percent in 2016.
“But we assume it’s not happening in the rest of the world. The international community and governments need to scale up efforts across the world,” she said.
Limited data means governments can “turn a blind eye and pretend it’s not happening,” she said.
According to the report, more than 500,000 women and girls in the US have undergone FGM or are at risk of doing so. In Australia, more than 50,000 women and girls had been cut, while an estimated 600,000 have undergone the practice across the EU. In the UK, 137,000 women and girls had been cut and more than 67,000 are at risk. About 70,000 had undergone FGM in Germany. Cases were also found in regions of India, Iran, Israel and Russia.
However, Srinivasan, who was lead author of the report, said these figures are likely to be underestimates as they are largely based on figures related to diaspora communities from countries where FGM is known to be practiced.
In the US, for example, the figure excludes Christian communities.
In an interview for the report, Jenny, who grew up in a conservative Christian home in the US Midwest, said she underwent FGM when she was five.
She was taught to believe that women should be submissive and that “sex for pleasure was wrong for women.”
KENTUCKY
It is only recently that she has begun to talk about her experience, and started a petition to get the practice banned in Kentucky, one of 15 US states where FGM is legal.
A bipartisan bill to ban FGM in Kentucky unanimously passed in January and is now heading to the US Senate for consideration.
“I think it is important for people to understand just because so few Americans have spoken up, it does not mean it is not happening here,” Jenny said.
“There is such a silence that surrounds this practice, that until we are talking about it more, we are really never going to know the amount of girls in the US that have been affected. We have to remove the shame, make it a subject safe to talk about,” she said.
In 2015, 193 governments agreed to eliminate FGM by 2030 as part of their commitment to meet the UN’s sustainable development goals.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS