Senegal outlaws female genital mutilation.

PIP: Senegal has joined Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Ghana, and Togo in outlawing female genital mutilation and assigning penalties of up to five years imprisonment to those who order or perform the procedure. Currently, 20% of Senegalese women have undergone female genital mutilation, and many girls are thought to have died as a result. UN agencies have made their opposition to female genital mutilation clear and have argued that women attempting to avoid the procedure should be granted asylum in other countries.^ieng

FGM: Senegalese women protected by law.

PIP: This article reports on the prohibition of the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) among Senegalese women as ordered by the Senegalese parliament. People who defy the law by ordering or performing the operation, which is often carried out using unsterile or rusty instruments and without anesthetic, will be imprisoned for 5 years. Enforcing the prohibition may be problematic; however, the government was anxious to avoid upsetting cultural sensitivities within the country¿s borders. UNICEF and other UN agencies have approved the prohibition in the hope of ending this cruel and unacceptable practice that violates the right of all girls to free, safe, and healthy lives.^ieng

Outlawing FGM in the USA.

PIP: This article discusses the outlawing of female genital mutilation (FGM), otherwise known as female circumcision in the US. FGM has been practiced for centuries, accounting for 130 million cases worldwide. The practice ranges from removal of all or part of the clitoris to removal of the clitoris and genital area, leaving only a passage for urine. The practice is commonly performed on girls aged 4-12 years. Short-term complications of FGM include severe pain, risk of hemorrhage, and death. Long-term complications include urine retention, menstrual obstruction, painful sexual intercourse, and labor and delivery problems. On the other end, the issue points out that although FGM was viewed as a violation to human rights, parents do this on their daughters because of love and respect for tradition. Based on this premise, access to information and support were viewed as important determinants to the choices of parents on whether or not to involve their daughter in FGM. The bill passed in Colorado, which renders FGM a crime, includes provisions for public health education in the state on this practice.^ieng

Ritualistic female genital mutilation: current status and future outlook.

Ritualistic sexual mutilation of females dates back to the fifth century B.C. This traditional practice is a social as well as a health issue that affects the physical and mental well being of the women who undergo it. Although practiced mostly in African countries north of the equator and the Middle-East, concern has recently been expressed that female genital mutilation is also being practiced in the U.S., Europe, and other western countries by immigrants from these countries. This review describes the various types of female genital mutilation and presents the historical and cultural background of the tradition, outlines the medical, psychological and sexual problems, and discusses the current status and future outlook for this tradition, emphasizing social, medical, and legislative aspects.

PIP: Ritualistic sexual mutilation of females dates back to the 5th century B.C. This traditional practice is a social as well as a health issue that affects the physical and mental well being of the women who undergo it. Although practiced mostly in African countries north of the equator and the Middle East, concern has recently been expressed that female genital mutilation is also being practiced in the US, Europe, and other western countries by immigrants from these countries. This review describes the various types of female genital mutilation and presents the historical and cultural background of the tradition; outlines the associated medical, psychological, and sexual problems; and discusses the current status and future outlook for this tradition, emphasizing social, medical, and legislative aspects.

New York governor signs ban on female genital mutilation.

On September 29, 1997, mixed-record Governor George Pataki (R) signed a bill that bans female genial mutilation (FGM) from being performed on minor females and establishes a campaign to educate the communities that traditionally use FGM about the "health risks and emotional trauma inflicted by such practices." The measure, AB 3379, which is scheduled to take effect 45 days after the signing date, passed the Assembly on July 2 by 145-0 and was approved in the Senate by 55-0. AB 3379 would only allow such a procedure to be used by a licensed medical practitioner if it is "necessary to the health of the person on whom it is performed" or it is performed "for medical purposes" associated with labor or childbirth. Individuals accused of performing FGM would be charged with a class E felony, which is punishable by up to 1 year in prison.

Female genital mutilation outlawed in United States.

PIP: Effective March 29, 1997, under new Congressional legislation, female genital mutilation (FGM) will be outlawed in the United States. Federal authorities will be required to inform new immigrants from countries where FGM is prevalent that parents who arrange FGM for their daughters and those who perform it will face prison sentences of up to five years. US representatives to the World Bank and other international financial institutions will be required to oppose aid to countries that have not established educational programs to end the practice. FGM is most common in Africa; it is estimated that 99% of women in Somalia and Djibouti, 90% of women in Ethiopia, and 85% of women in Sudan have undergone it. More than 127 million African women have been mutilated, and each year 2 million girls, usually between 4 and 12 years old, undergo the ordeal. In the US, 168,000 girls either are at risk of being mutilated or have been already. Almost half of them live in urban areas with large immigrant populations, including New York; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Houston; Chicago; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Oakland, California; Newark, New Jersey; Dallas; and Boston. Fourteen states have, or are considering, bills against the practice.^ieng

Egyptian government broadens ban on female genital mutilation.

PIP: An estimated 70-90% of girls in Egypt are subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) before reaching puberty. Many Egyptians believe the practice to be ordained by Islam. Whether this is true, however, remains an issue of debate among Muslim scholars. Some Egyptian Christians also secure FGM for their girls. Egyptian law prohibits anyone without medical training from performing FGM, and any physician or health worker who causes permanent damage to a girl may face 3-10 years of hard labor. However, the law is frequently ignored, especially in rural areas, where village barbers and midwives perform the operations. In October 1995, Egyptian state hospitals were banned from performing FGM. Egypt has since broadened its ban to bar all health care workers in both state-run hospitals and private clinics from performing the procedure. No health care worker affiliated with the Ministry of Health is therefore allowed to perform FGM. Almost all Egyptian doctors are affiliated with the Ministry. While this recent move by the Health Minister is laudable, it remains to be seen whether he can enforce it. The secretary-general of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights has urged parliament to enact legislation criminalizing FGM.^ieng

There ought to be a law against this type of abuse.

PIP: Female genital mutilation occurs in parts of the world where ritual overwhelms reason and where women's sexuality is regarded as dangerous. Some 100-130 million women worldwide have been mutilated, with high prevalence in countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, and Egypt. Now female genital mutilation has been imported with international migrants to the US. While legislators first refused to believe that such abuse could be happening in the US, the evidence began mounting through accounts from school teachers, physicians, and immigrants themselves. The practice has been outlawed in much of Europe where women have been prosecuted for child abuse, but as of 1995, only three US states had made it a felony. US response has been muted by ignorance, by a perverse respect for cultural differences, and by a bizarre belief that female genital mutilation is comparable to male circumcision. Congress is considering two bills that would make it illegal to perform female genital mutilation on a child in the US and could provide funding to determine the prevalence of the problem. Representative Patricia Schroder, a co-sponsor of the legislation, also hopes to amend immigrant legislation to require that all new immigrants be informed that they can not import this practice to the US. The US must take a stand against female genital mutilation on its own shores and throughout the world.^ieng

Female circumcision as a public health issue.

PIP: Female circumcision is practiced in 26 African countries, and it is estimated that at least 100 million women are circumcised. The mildest form is clitoridectomy and the more severe type is infibulation. Girls are commonly circumcised between the ages of 4 and 10 years. Since the operator is usually a nonprofessional without surgical experience, complications are common: hemorrhage and severe pain that can even result in shock and death. The most common long-term complication is the formation of dermoid cysts in the line of the scar. Childbirth adds other risks for infibulated women and vesicovaginal fistula is often the result. The attendant urinary incontinence leads to ostracism of these women. In sum, female circumcision is a major contributor to childhood and maternal mortality and morbidity in communities with poor health services. The physical complications add to the psychological trauma: many infibulated women have a syndrome of chronic anxiety and depression arising from their condition, intractable dysmenorrhea, and the fear of infertility. The psychological sequelae of immigrant women who live in societies where such practice is condemned is even worse and may need professional counseling to address their sexual identity and cultural identification. Tightly infibulated women require clinical intervention for deinfibulation in order to preclude serious maternal and fetal complications during childbirth. Reinfibulation is medically harmful and even though some women request it, health professionals who comply are ethically reprehensible. In Sweden a 1982 law makes all forms of female circumcision illegal, as does a law that was passed in the United Kingdom in 1985. In France several cases were brought against parents under child abuse laws for circumcising or attempting to circumcise their French-born daughters. In the United States a 1993 bill drafted by the Congressional Women's Caucus would make the practice illegal and fund a program to assist immigrant communities to deal with the problem.^ieng

[What does the law say]?]. / Que dit la loi?

PIP: This article addresses the illegality of the practice of sexual mutilation (female circumcision) which includes excision and infibulation in Mali in particular, but which are universally practiced in Sub- Saharan Africa and Europe. The principal question asked is what legislation exists to protect women against sexual mutilation (SM). Article 171 of Mali's Penal Code of 1961 states that any interventions that cause death, or any substance that are administered to a person voluntarily that cause them injury or sickness where they are incapacitated from work will be punished from 6 months to 3 years of imprisonment and fined 20,000 - 200,000 francs and the person imposing the infliction shall also receive 10 years probation. However, if the illness results in a permanent state of incapacity the penalty will be from 5-10 years of hard labor. If the person dies the penalty will be 5-20 years of hard labor and 20 years of probation. While Article 163 of the Penal Code is more direct, and states that any injuries or voluntary violence imposed on a person without intent of death will be punished from 5-20 years of forced labor and 20 years probation. Article 166 of the Penal Code is the most direct regarding SM and states that when violence are injuries aimed at mutilating, amputating, deprivation of parts of the body or loss of the senses such as eyes or any other the penalty shall be from 5-10 year of forced labor. Mali has not enforced any of these laws. Yet Malian citizens practicing SM and the death of their children have been condemned in France with prison sentence. Recommendations to fight the war against Sm should include 3 strategies: 1) a national IEC campaign; 2) integrating the practice of Sm into the curriculum of all teaching institutions; and 3) changing the existing laws to make them more explicit as acts of torture and providing administrative, political and legislative support towards the eradication of such an inhuman practice.^ieng

France: a lawyer's view on female circumcision performed among immigrants.

PIP: Everyone agrees that female circumcision should not be done. Africans, however, have imported this custom to France. African parents who circumcise their children in France have been brought to court, since this is against the French Penal Code. People are shocked to see these parents being prosecuted, because, they are only following their cultural traditions. Innocent children must be defended against this cruel tradition. In 2 recent cases, the Criminal Court imposed sentences of 3 years imprisonment, suspended. In the future, penalties will probably be more severe. The Paris-based Group for the Abolition of Sexual Mutilation, which is affiliated with the Inter-African Committee, does information and sensitization work against female circumcision among French immigrants.^ieng

Judgment, 1988.

The Court ruled that female circumcision is a crime under Article 312 of the French Penal Code, which provides that any person who deliberately attacks or beats a child less than 15 years old, resulting in permanent injury or mutilation, is in violation of the law. It sentenced the parents of a girl who had died after being circumcised to a suspended three years' prison sentence.

Female circumcision: an assault?

PIP: The question that arises is whether assault is sometimes committed in the guise of quasi medical operations whose desirability is as yet unchallenged in the courts. Female circumcision is a procedure that raises this question. In the UK legal system assault has been defined as "any hurt or injury calculated to interfere with the health or comfort of the prosecutor." The degree of hurt can be relatively minor and has been held to include a hysterical or nervous condition resulting from the act complained of. The law insists that some acts remain assaults in the eyes of the law, despite the fact that the victim has consented to their being carried out. Recently there has been a restatement of the circumstances in which the courts will permit consent to render lawful what could otherwise constitute an assault. For example, injuries sustained in dangerous exhibitions such as knife throwing will not be unlawful. Then, too, it is considered in the public interest to allow some acts of harm, e.g., parents and teachers may practice lawful chastisement on children without being guilty of an assault. Yet, if the injury is unreasonable they may lose this protection. The most relevant area for physicians is that of "unreasonable surgical interference," where it is clearly in the public interest that certain necessary procedures should be carried out without giving rise to liability for assault, i.e., if the patient has consented. The consent must be acceptable to the courts, must have been given freely and after a comprehensive explanation of the contemplated procedure. If these requriements are not satifsifed, the courts may disregard the consent. In a few exceptional cases the courts as well as the doctors will become involved in determining whether a procedure is desirable. What is acceptable depends on the state of knowledge and existing values at the time. In regard to female circumcision, it is difficult to think of arguments in favor of the practice. Although circumcision of the male is an accepted procedure on grounds of religion and medical grounds, neither of these apply to the female. The operation apparently involves the removal of the clitoris and additional areas of the foreparts of the labia, leaving behind raw areas which are stitched together. This painful procedure, which is known in many instances to have led to longterm difficulties in sexual relationships and childbirth, is now being studied by the UN Human Rights Body. This is clearly a procedure that should be ruled to be unlawful, and the consent of the woman should not be allowed to defend it. The current concern with upholding the traditions of ethnic groups should not overrule the humanitarian considerations.^ieng