Hawa* is determined her young daughter will not undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which is widespread in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland.

An estimated 90 percent of girls still undergo the procedure.

"I have suffered kidney problems, infections and miscarriages," said Hawa. "I dread the days when my period is close because of the pain I go through; it gets to the point where the pain makes it impossible to do anything. I don’t want my daughter subjected to this kind of life."

"Gudnin Fircooni", Pharaonic circumcision or infibulation, as practised in Somaliland, involves cutting off the external genitalia and sewing up the vagina, leaving a small hole for urine and menstrual blood.

The practice is not illegal but the government’s gender policy was to discourage FGM/C, said Kinsi Hussein, an activist and deputy head of the Network of Anti-FGM in Somaliland (NAFIS).

Hussein told IRIN several organisations were involved in the campaign against FGM/C in Somaliland.

"We are now trying to speak with one voice and have one message," she said.

Although there are no statistics on prevalence in Somalia, Hussein said FGM/C was primarily performed on girls between the ages of four and 11 and was regarded as “cleansing” a girl child in Somali culture.

"Some people still believe that a girl is not ready for marriage until she is cut," she said.

Awareness campaigns

Hussein said NAFIS was engaged in awareness campaigns targeting "not only the mothers and the girls but the men, particularly the young men of marriageable age. We want to tell these young men that circumcision does not enhance or add to a girl's value as a wife and a mother."

However, Hussein said progress has been slow, attributing this to resistance from mothers and fathers who believe their daughters would be unmarriageable if they were not circumcised.

"We have been using the policy of total eradication as our guiding principle but it does not seem to be working as well as we would like," Hussein said.

"Elders and religious leaders are supporting our efforts and it is making a difference," she said. "However, it is not enough and more needs to be done."

Men’s support

Involving men, particularly religious leaders, in the campaign to eradicate FGM/C had been effective. "Their involvement has removed some of the myths that somehow the practice has a religious significance," Hussein said.

Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim, a Muslim scholar, said FGM/C was in "total contradiction" to Islamic teaching.

"It is haram [prohibited] to cause physical or psychological damage to the human body; there is no question that this practice does that and more," he told IRIN.

He said Somalis should not be fooled into thinking the practice was condoned by Islam. "FGM has no basis in Islam."

Ibrahim said schools should also participate in the eradication of FGM.

"We should put FGM in the education curriculum in health and religious subjects," he said. "If people see it not only as a women's issue but as a health and religious issue, it would have a much bigger impact."

Ibrahim said that as a religious person he would never allow his own daughters to be circumcised.

Signs of progress

Hussein said that despite the slow pace in persuading people to reject FGM, activists were making progress.

"This is a practice that has been going on for a very long time and it will take time to end it," she said. "Some 30 years ago I thought it was a religious obligation, today I know it is not."

As a sign of improved awareness of its dangers, Hussein said, activists in Somaliland were using training centres for women and schools to spread the message.

She said they were taking their campaign to rural areas where the practice was more rooted. "We are now engaged in coordinated campaigns in rural areas."

Hawa said she was optimistic that when her daughter had a daughter of her own, FGM would be "thing of the past".

*Not her real name

IRIN 

Cross-border female genital mutilation / cutting (FGM/C) is on the rise in West Africa according to the UN, spurring the need to impose a region-wide law banning the practice, say experts.

Experts from the region met this week to discuss how to eliminate FGM/C across West Africa, at a conference sponsored by the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou.

A study sponsored by UNIFEM to be released in late October 2008 said  circumcisers or girls who undergo circumcision are increasingly crossing borders to perform or undergo the procedure to operate in countries with weaker FGM/C laws, and border police can do little to stop the flow.

"There is a lack of collaboration among governments across borders because the issue is so politically sensitive to manage,” said Dieneba Ouedraogo, coordinator of the International Centre for Research Training and Action (CIRFA). As a result, she said governments have shied away from collaborating on policies and legislation or on coming up with a joint communications strategy to try to dissuade people from crossing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says FGM/C includes all procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Up to 140 million girls and women worldwide live with the consequences of FGM/C, and three million girls in Africa risk undergoing the procedure each year.

Consequences can include excessive bleeding, problems urinating, childbirth complications and stillbirths. It is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and 15 years old, according to WHO, and it is generally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

Border populations vulnerable

Girls living near borders are most vulnerable to being forcibly moved, said Ouedraogo, particularly if they are living next to countries with weaker anti FGM/C legislation than their own.

In Mali, where there is legislation relating to FGM/C but it is poorly applied, the prevalence rate is 85 percent, which makes communities living near the border in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal vulnerable, said Traoré.

Circumcisers will always travel where they can work with the least restrictions, said Elize Dossou, FGM/C expert at the Benin ministry of family and children’s affairs. So, circumcisers travel from Burkina Faso to Niger to circumcise nomad Gourmantché girls, while populations in northern Benin tend to cross the border to be circumcised in Burkina Faso, she said.

Hidden victims

Because of this cross-border movement, the real number of FGM victims is unknown, according to Dossou.

Official FGM/C rates in Benin are 17 percent of women and girls, but she says the real number is higher.

According to UNIFEM families are sending their daughters to circumcisers to perform the practice at an increasingly young age to avoid being caught, which also distorts official figures.

At the meeting, UNIFEM officials called on health ministry and WHO officials who coordinate annual health and demographic surveys country by country to specifically target questions relating to girls 14 and under so those who underwent FGM/C would not be overlooked.

Toughen national laws

UNIFEM is also lobbying West African governments to adopt and implement laws to prosecute perpetrators of FGM/C wherever they practice, Cecile Mukarubuga UNIFEM’s Senegal-based regional director, told IRIN.

"If all countries legislate or review their laws to cover cross-border practices, I am sure it will eventually eliminate FGM,” Marian Tackie of Ghana’s Ministry of Women and Children Affairs told IRIN.

Among West African countries, only Ghana has reviewed its legislation to prosecute all perpetrators of FGM/C including those who perform outside the country, she said. In Ghana even the women who participate in the circumcision ceremony by shouting to drown out the screaming of the girls are subject to prosecution.

Most West African countries have some form of indirect or direct anti-FGM/C legislation, but in the majority it is poorly enforced, Tackie said.

But Lamine Traoré, coordinator for a project to eliminate FGM/C in Mali, said unless a region-wide law is applied, “countries which have weaker [anti-FGM/C laws] will become a hub for the practice.”

Regional law

Passing a regional law would involve appeasing leaders nervous about violations of their sovereignty, said Mukarubuga.

"It is true that border issues are sensitive, but legislation for the rights of women in the region does not violate the sovereignty of countries since it is a regionally integrated zone with mutually complementary economic and social interests, which this law would serve," she explained.

Applying such a law would also require tighter collaboration among border security officials, communities, and social welfare ministries, Mukarubuga said. At the moment, volunteer civilian surveillance teams work in villages along the borders of some West African countries to monitor and report circumcisers to the authorities, but without regional legislation, Doussou said, the border police cannot pursue them across borders.

Progress on this will not be possible unless governments, non-profits and civil society organisations work with religious leaders to try to shift their resistance. UNIFEM has started by setting up a network of 16 traditional leaders in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries to try to raise awareness among families and religious leaders.

"There is still a strong resistance from all sides now, but governments need to do more to confront these traditions," said Traoré.

IRIN 

Thousands of young girls annually prepare for their initiation into a women’s secret association, Sande Society, which operates mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. As part of their initiation, young women take a vow of secrecy after weeks of training in the forest, promising not to not tell uninitiated girls or men what happens to them, to assume new names, and to have their clitorises cut off - known as female
genital mutilation (FGM) - according to women in the secret society.

About half of Liberia’s some 16 ethnic groups, including the Bassa, Mende, Gola and Kissi, observe the rules of this historically-secret, centuries-old society.

One Mende member from Tubmanburg, Western Liberia, who asked not to be named, told IRIN removing a girl’s clitoris helps her become a “prolific child bearer.”

Another member, 42-year-old Jebbeh Sonneh, explained to IRIN, “Those who perform such [FGM] acts are typically elderly women in the community designated for the task, or traditional birth attendants.”

Secrecy shrouds outreach

Sociologist Theo Kerkulah at the University of Liberia in Monrovia says even though the practice of rural forest initiations is common in Liberia, it is not openly discussed. “It is a difficult topic to teach. Most girls who joined the society are now in the classroom and never feel happy when you talk about it in the open. They feel [it is a betrayal]. Perhaps because of the myths that are associated with it.”

Kerkulah says the girls are bound by secrecy vows and the time they spend together in the forest where they undergo trainingto enter adulthood, learning domestic skills and moral lessons.
The lecturer told IRIN many girls believe the spirit of Sande, the guardian of women, guides them into and during adulthood.

Monrovia-based medical researcher Deddeh Siah says physical pain is an additional factor binding the young girls, “In some Sandes [initiates], not only is her genitalia removed, the student is marked [cut] so that large scars remain on the skin of the initiate for life.”

She estimates about 5,000 puberty-aged adolescents join the group every year, either by force or choice.

Culture can kill

Sandes are a part of Liberia’s cultural heritage, says Jomo Weah who works at a government-run culture centre in Kendeja, on the outskirts of Monrovia. “We cannot stop it. It is our culture. We can only intervene by allowing them to go about doing it when the girls are on school break.”

Local civil society groups including Girls Movement for Education have tried to discourage parents from allowing their girls to join Sande Society.

Government health worker Mary Mah says FGM is killing hundreds of girls in Liberia every year. “Over 20 percent of the initiates die from excessive bleeding after their clitoris has been removed.”

Mah told IRIN if excessive pain and extreme bleeding do not kill the girls, FGM can scar or disfigure her for life. “Risk of serious potentially life-threatening complications [include] ongoing bleeding, infection including HIV, urine retention, stress, shock…[and] psychological trauma.”

Catherine Watson Khasu, an elected leader in Grand Cape Mount County in Western Liberia, about 140 km from Monrovia, dismisses these risks, “People have said all sorts of things against our cultural heritage, which are not true. I am a member of the Sande [Society] and I’m proud of it. There is nothing harmful about the Sande.”

She told IRIN the government and human rights organisations should respect the tradition of Liberia’s indigenous groups, “We know the [1989-2003 civil] war did a lot of damage to our country, but that does not mean we should desecrate our traditional shrines.”

IRIN 

Fewer Ethiopian parents are subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM), according to an NGO campaigning to eradicate the practice.

"The knowledge [that FGM is harmful] is increasing," said Abate Gudunfa, head of the Ethiopian National Committee on Traditional Practices (commonly referred to as EGLDAM - its name in Amharic]. "Children born more recently are safer."

A network of 40 NGOs, including EGLDAM, the government and international organisations, are involved in anti-FGM campaigns in Ethiopia. Policies have also been reviewed to ensure participants are punished.

"Prevalence, especially among newly born children is decreasing - meaning that more families have sufficient awareness and do not support this practice anymore," Abate added.

A 2007 survey conducted by EGLDAM found that prevalence across the country had dropped from 61 percent in 1997 to 46 percent.

Nine regions including Tigray, the Southern and Oromiya as well as two city administrations namely the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, showed the highest improvement.

Other regions recorded minimal change. "There is almost no decrease in Afar and Somali [regions] - the strongholds of infibulation," the survey noted.

Assessing prevalence among various ethnic groups, EGLDAM found a decrease in almost all. Some 29 groups reflected a 20 percent decline, of which 18 were located in the Southern Region.

"Those ethnic groups ...should be considered real success areas and given due attention as possible learning sites," EGLDAM said. "Six ethnic groups show about or less than 10 percent decrease and should be considered as groups of probable major resistance to change."

These included the Harari, Shinasha, Alaba and Hadia ethnic groups.

Old tradition

Female circumcision is one of the 140 harmful traditions still commonly practised in Ethiopia. Often female circumcision involves the removal of part of the clitoris or the clitoris and all or some of the labia.

In some cases, genitalia are sewn up, leaving a small hole for urine and blood to pass. When combined with excision, this is the most severe form of FGM, according to experts.

In some communities, the girls are secluded for a month with their legs bound together to immobilise them, as they wait for the bleeding to stop and scar tissue to form.

FGM is carried out on girls as young as 80 days old, particularly in the predominately Christian highlands, and up to 14 years of age in the lowland Muslim regions. Some excisors use the same knife or razor blade on all their victims, regardless of the danger of spreading infections.

Globally, an estimated two million girls are still at risk of undergoing FGM each year. Activists say FGM is deeply entrenched in society despite various efforts to stop it.

According to the Inter-African Committee, the practice is a serious health issue affecting women, helping to spread HIV/AIDS and responsible for high female mortality rates in Africa.

IRIN 

The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practice affecting the health of Women and children (GAMCOTRAP) in partnership with Save the Children, on Thursday, organized a day long sensitization on traditional practices, sexual and reproductive health at Paradise Suite Hotel.

The programme was centred on presentation and discussion of the role of community leaders in protecting the girl-child from female genital mutilation (FGM)

Declaring the workshop opened, Lamin Sanneh, governor, Western region said the government of The Gambia under the dynamic leadership of President Jammeh has  created the necessary legal framework and code of conduct on traditional practices especially on sexual and reproductive rights.

He commended GAMCOTRAP and its partners for organizing such a programme adding that is very important as it came at a time when women and children issues are being tabled at the National Assembly for action. Governor Sanneh urge participants to take the workshop seriously noting that it takes a man to build partnership but in the same vein it takes a woman to strengthen the partnership and by extension build a nation.

For her part, Dr Isatou Touray, executive director, GAMCOTRAP, thanked participants for honoring their invitation.

According to her, her organization has always been in the forefront in advocating for the welfare of women and the girl-child and tackling issues that affect them such as circumcision. She thanked the President for being in the forefront in empowering women in the country.

Dr Touray concluded by calling for more support in their quest to support women empowerment.

In setting the context of the training, the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP Dr. Isatou Touray explained to the gathering that her organization is not against cultures and traditions but to analyse them critically to come up with practices that protect the rights of women and girls. She noted the trends in perceptions on traditional practices are changing towards a positive direction as communities and families are protecting girls from FGM, early marriage amongst others harmful traditional practices, which led to the first national declaration of the Dropping of the Knife Initiative in May 2007. Dr. Touray highlighted the challenges of dealing with mobile circumcisers from Senegal who cross the borders into The Gambia to practice FGM, because there is no law in the Gambia to protect girl children against FGM.

Alkalo Fatou Danso of Kaba Kama who worked as a nurse midwife in the Upper River Region shared her experience on the effects FGM and early marriage has on women and girls.

Traditional communicators locally called Kanyelengholu created songs to support the campaign to stop female genital mutilation-FGM at bantanto. The relics of the songs are based on the messages on the effects FGM has on women and girls, women’s rights and empowerment.

In his contribution, the head AIkalo of Fuladu, Kebba Kora of Bansang called for a stop to FGM and pointed out the need for a law to stop the practice. AIkalo Kebba Kora pledged to sensitize all the one hundred and thirty-two Alkalolu under his jurisdiction for them to be aware that FGM has serious implications on the sexual and reproductive health of women and work towards freeing their communities from the practice. He finally called on parents to educate their daughters and emulate GAMCOTRAP women as role models. All the speakers at the Bantanto training expressed their support to the campaign to stop FGM, including the council of elders of Bantanto village.

Speaking on behalf of the women of Sare Jibel, Chedo Jawo thanked GAMCOTRAP and asserted that FGM has nothing to do with Islam but was merely about jealousy. She called on women to protect their children from the practice. Similar sentiments were expressed by Jabou Janneh of Mabally Kuta and noted that they have observed the effects the practice has on women’s health. In reiterating their support to the campaign, Penda Sanyang the Traditional Birth Attendant of Mabally Koto confirmed that their village circumciser, Adama Damba has stop practicing FGM and has the support of the community.

The training was highlighted with the public declaration to stop FGM by another circumciser in the CRR, Jainaba Kanteh of Mabally Kuta, and she received Five thousand Dalasi as support to start an alternative income activity. She was supported by her village Alkalo Alhajie Lamin Janneh, her family members and other village representatives.

Women Leaders in FONI trained on Female Genital Mutilation

Over twenty women leaders from Foni Jarrol, Bintang Karanai, Bondali and Kansala Districts in the Western Region had recently converged at Bwiam Lodge for a three days training on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls against harmful traditional practices.

In his welcome remarks the Alkalo of Bwiam, Musa Amul Nyassi expressed appreciation of GAMCOTRAP’s role in national development and called on the women leaders to seize the opportunity to have direct access to information that can empower them and be prepared to share it with their followership.

In leading the opening prayers, Imam Alhajie Babou Ceesay of Bwiam prayed for peace, stability and a successful training programme.

The three days training supported by Forum Syd through NIYO amongst other things exposed participants to the different components of sexual and reproductive health issues women and girls are face with, clarifications on religion, FGM and women’s rights, the International Conventions, Regional Protocols, National laws and policies ratified by The Gambia to promote the rights of women and children.

Emphasising on the important role women leaders can play in reaching out to more women to protect girls from female genital mutilation, early marriage and the promotion of women’s rights, Dr. Touray enlightened the participants on the advocacy role of GAMCOTRAP for the advancement and empowerment of women and children. In responding to the call for step down community and district training in Foni, Dr. Touray pledged that all efforts would be done to get the required resources needed in reaching out to communities. “The pace has been set for total eradication of FGM, once the level of awareness on the effects of FGM is increased, community consensus to stop the practice is irresistible” she concluded.

The participating Foni women leaders reached consensus that FGM should stop and they all pledged to share the knowledge gained and would advocate for the eradication of the practice. It could be noted that this training was earlier preceded by training of over fifty Traditional Birth Attendants and female circumcisers from the five districts of Foni.

Over fifty Traditional Birth Attendants and Circumcisers from the five districts of Foni, participated at a three day workshop held in Sibanor, Foni Bintang Karanai. In his welcoming remark, the Governor of Western Region, Mr. Abdou Badgie welcomed GAMCOTRAP in Foni and said that they are happy that the organization is also engaging the Foni area towards the eradication of female genital mutilation - FGM. He reminded the Traditional birth Attendants the important role they play in promoting maternal and child health in particular. Speaking to the circumcisers, the governor noted that despite the fact that FGM is a deep rooted tradition, health is a basic human right to be protected by all. Making reference to the content of the programme, Governor Badjie noted the importance of the issues for discussion based on facts and reiterated the need to stop harmful traditional practices. He appealed to participants to reflect on the economic dimension of celebration of initiation ceremonies in the midst of increased poverty. Governor Badgie added that, eradication of poverty will be difficult while there are extravagance in lifestyles. He posited that with good health, there can be good economic productivity and appreciated the solidarity among women. Mr. Abdou Badgie commended GAMCOTRAP as an important organization on women and children’s health rights in the Gambia.

Chairing the opening ceremony. the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP Dr. Isatou Touray, informed the gathering that this is the first project specifically for Foni and was developed with women’s participation and with support from Forum Syd through NIYO, a Swedish based organization. Dr. Touray noted that if the pilot year of the project is successful, there is possibility to extend it for multiple years.

Speaking at the opening, the Chief of the Bintang Karanai district, Chief Mustapha Camara expressed delight to witness the opening and was aware that the initiative is to establish women’s health. He reminded participants that the focus of the meeting is on culture and that research has revealed FGM as harmful and should be stopped. He said the President of the republic relies on the women for development and that they should use the opportunity to discuss the issues during the three days. Alkalo Sarjo  ,Ceesay of Sibanor also welcomed GAMCOTRAP and called on the participants to act on the knowledge gathered during the training.

At the end of the training, participants expressed their commitment to stop FGM, and called on GAMCOTRAP to advocate for FGM to be included in the school curriculum. They appealed to government to put in place laws against FGM and promised to report back to their Alkalolu and conduct meetings with young mothers of the child bearing age.

The Community Health Nurse in Sibanor, Yaya Jallow appreciated the training and pledged to give support to the Community Based Facilitators to organized village based meetings to share the information they gathered during the workshop. He reminded the Traditional Birth Attendants that they should play their role to stop FGM by talking to mothers at delivery.

Women’s leader, Nano Touray of Sibanor, thanked the participants for the good turnout, and called on Foni to be part of the campaign and take the lead in the fight against FGM.

Meanwhile, over three hundred participants from Kulari, Garawol and Tinkinjo villages in the Upper River Region participated in a series of training workshops on sexual and reproductive health organized by GAMCOTRAP and supported by FOKUS through the NKFT in Norway.

One of the resource persons, Oustass Muhamadou Sanuwo, focused on making clarifications on the misconception that FGM is not a religious injunction. The Imam of Kulari, Musa Touray also blessed the gathering and said it was through discussions and educating people that Islam was spread and that everyone is seeking to have good health and was happy that the workshop took place to enlighten them.

At Garawol in URR, Imam Alhajie Abdoulie Conteh welcomed GAMCOTRAP and noted that it takes time to eradicate deep-rooted practices like FGM, however, he prayed that the truth be established. He used the occasion to call on parents to take up their responsibility to address causes of teenage pregnancy.

Having been exposed to the various issues around FGM, from the point of view of tradition, religion, health and the rights of women and children, the participants reached consensus that FGM should stop and their village circumcisers, Sarjo Damba of Kulari, Hatou Kanteh and Bai Kanteh of Garawol and Haja Mabintou Bahaga of Tinkinjo publicly declared to their communities that they would never practice FGM again. They all believed they were doing it to get blessing but did not realised how much harm it caused women and girls. They were supported by mothers, fathers and some of their community leaders at their various gatherings to protect girls from FGM and to promote the reproductive health of women in adult life. The Chief of Kantora Alhajie Bachu Ceesay and Basori Orammeh hosted the Garawol and Tinkinjo workshops respectively.