Zero tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

6 February 2011 marks this year’s United Nations-sponsored International Day of Zero tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). As a particularly devastating form of gender-based violence, female genital mutilation adversely affects women’s lives and significantly hinders the implementation and realisation of the SADC Gender Protocol’s target (Article 25) of halving gender-based violence by 2015. The commemorative day should also highlight the Gender Protocol’s commitment “to discourage traditional norms, including social . . . cultural and political practices which legitimise and exacerbate the persistence and tolerance of gender-based violence” (Article 21).

Statistics on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)
– FGM is internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
– It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
– FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
– The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
– Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
– FGM is not prevalent in the SADC region but occurs prominently in some parts of the DRC and Tanzania.
– According to Tanzania health statistics, 18% of the female population have undergone FGM.
– The Tanzania Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, a 1998 amendment to the Penal Code, specifically prohibits FGM. Section 169A(1) of the act provides that anyone having custody, charge or care of a girl under 18 years of age who causes her to undergo FGM commits the offence of cruelty to children.

Source: World Health Organisation and  Womens Global Connection