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Tag: genital mutilation

  • Stop female genital mutilation, says Ajimobi

    Stop female genital mutilation, says Ajimobi

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday appealed to the House of Assembly to pass the Violence Against Women bill.

    He said this at a meeting on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) organised by the Access to Basic Medical Care Foundation, an initiative of his wife, Florence.

    Ajimobi said it was time the bill was passed to end discrimination and violence against women.

    The governor described female genital mutilation as the climax of mental and physical degradation of women, violence against women and a violation of their rights, asserting the government’s determination to fight FGM through legislation.

    “On the part of the government, I would like to allay the fears of all stakeholders by giving you the assurance that we are fully committed to this fight against FGM.

    “This will be backed by political will and affirmative action in support of our women.

    “The elimination of FGM is a specific target under goal five of the Sustainable Development Goals and we will ensure that all requisite laws and policies are put in place and enforced to enable us achieve this goal.

    “And we will start by requesting that the House of Assembly should  pass the Violence Against Women bill before May 31.

    “Let it be known to all that the  government will not hesitate to bring the full force of the law to bear on anyone who is found guilty of any acts of mutilation, harmful traditional practice or any other act of violence for that matter, against any woman.”

    Assistant Representative, The United Nations Population Fund,  Osaretin Adonri, called for a shift  from cultural practices that advanced FGM.

    He cautioned against myths  that genital cutting reduces promiscuity and preserves chastity of women and girls.

    Mrs Ajimobi noted that FGM was “a gross violation of the rights of women against discrimination, cruelty and torture”.

    Wife of Osun State Governor Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola and her Ekiti counterpart Mrs Feyisetan Fayose called for behavioural change on the part of parents, traditional birth attendants to stem the high prevalence of circumcised women.

     

  • Coalition against genital mutilation

    Coalition against genital mutilation

    UNICEF and an NGO are leading a campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM). They are seeking stiffer penalties for offenders, OGOCHUKWU ANIOKE reports

    The United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF) and a non-governmental organisation, Inter-African Committee on Female Genital Mutilation have called for the end of female genital mutilation or FGM.

    The age-old practice is said to be prevalent in Ebonyi and other Southeast and Southsouth states.

    UNICEF and the NGO also wooed the media to help in speeding up the end of what has been described as a scourge.

    Both organisations addressed journalists at a workshop co-sponsored by Federal Ministry of Information in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

    The theme of the workshop was “Female genital mutilation/cutting abandonment in Nigeria”.

    National President of the NGO, Prof Modupe Onadeko expressed shock that every year three million girls and women undergo the painful and life-threatening crude operation.

    Onadeko, a retired professor of Medicine, said that Ebonyi, Imo, Osun, Nasarawa, among other states in the country have high prevalence rate and called for the total abandonment of the practice.

    She stated that apart from the pain the girls and women go through during mutilation other dangers associated with the Female Genital Mutilation includes, risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, urinary tract infections, fracture and death and called for the support of faith-based organisations in the campaign to end it.

    Prof Onadeko debunked insinuations and traditional beliefs that uncircumcised girls are usually promiscuous and do not get married. She also condemned the use of the finger by mothers and mothers-in-law especially in Ebonyi and Imo states in pricking, piercing or cutting the clitoris, adding that such practices amount to circumcision.

    Prof Onadeko urged the state governments to domesticate the law prohibiting female genital mutilation and rights of newborns and women, adding that there should be stiffer penalties for offenders.

    She said the various types of female gentile mutilation or circumcision account for the increasing number of prostitutes and mortality of women during child delivery.

    Onadeko, a retired professor of medicine from University of Ibadan said that research had revealed that 95 percent of prostitutes in Nigeria had their female organs mutilated by circumcisers.

    “No Anastasia, no analgesics, some could bleed to death. Their belief is that if the clitoris is allowed to grow it could grow longer than the male organ, and then there would be two masters in one boat. They also believe that cutting the woman would drive away evil spirit from the girl child or woman. Some say it is to make her not to be promiscuous, so would remain a virgin for the husband or her would-be husband. Any of them who failed to do it is mutilated in the seventh month of pregnancy”.

    She explained that any cutting of the female genitalia is harmful, and violation of her rights, and called for implementation of any existing laws against the practice while the state that had not enacted such laws should do so.

    Onadeko said that the prevalence of the mutilation is more in Osun state with 77% prevalence, followed by Ebonyi state 74 %, Ekiti 72%, Imo 68%,  and Oyo 42%.

    She noted that the worst of the mutilation is the infibulations type where the girl-child or woman has her genitalia stitched up leaving  only a small hole for her urination and menstruation.

    The professor explained that the cutting accounts for the series of protracted labor and ultimate complications in child delivery including VVF, and had in many cases resulted to deaths.

    “There is no need for cutting any parts of the body of any person except for medical reasons. In the cases of these mutilations they are done in respect or obedience to culture and traditions. In some cases these children are held down by able bodied men or women for them to be cut, their bodies/face are cut with unhygienic implements to give marks so that no other family can claim them.”

    The medical expert said that leaving the female organ as created does not make her promiscuous rather makes for pleasurable marriage and normal child delivery.

    Many other experts drawn from various disciplines delivered talks at the workshop.

    In an opening remark, the Chief of Communication UNICEF Nigeria, Doune Porter said the agency decided to put up the programme to partner the media in combating the act and commended the Wife of the President for the proposed flag off of the campaign against FGM/C scheduled to hold in Abuja on Tuesday.

    The Chief of Communication said that the agency has recorded greater success in the advocacy pointing out that the agency would not relent until the country records total abandonment of the practice.

    Porter further said that some practitioners in Ile Ife, Osun State have abandoned the act and joined in the advocacy and called other practitioners in areas where there is prevalent cases to abandon the

    practice and join in the advocacy.

    She also commended the Federal Ministry of Information and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA for collaborating with the agency in the media dialogue.

    Journalists across the Southeast, Southsouth and Abuja participated in the dialogue and resolved to champion the campaign in their different state.

  • Battle to end genital mutilation in Ebonyi

    Battle to end genital mutilation in Ebonyi

    Residents of Ishielu Local Government Area have declared the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) a taboo, saying that it has created enormous problems in the lives of their young girls and women.

    Therefore, any person who engages in it in the area will be severely punished, they pledged.

    The agreement was reached during the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) statewide awareness campaign on “Abandonment Of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting” practice in all the communities of the state held at Ntezi Town Hall in Ishielu council.

    The open community dialogue on FGM/C, a UNICEF sponsored project,was organised by National Orientation Agency, Ebonyi state, in collaboration with critical stakeholders/partners from the state.

    These include Ebonyi State Ministry of Information and state orientation, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Child Protection Network, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), Local Government social welfare officers,as well as health officers of each Local Government Council.

    Disclosing the essence of the programme, the State Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Ebonyi State, Dr. Emma Abah stated that it is a strategy of UNICEF towards discouraging the practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the world by dialoguing with people on the adverse effects of the practice, not just on children and women but on the entire society and the need for them to completely abandon it for a better and healthier lifestyle.

    Dr Abah noted that to further promote and intensify the campaign against FGM/C in Ebonyi State, UNICEF empowered NOA and other relevant stakeholders to collaboratively and systematically engage the affected communities on societal dialogue and as well empower same to act collectively to end the bad practice.

    The NOA boss disclosed that they intend to dialogue with the people on why the FGM/C practice was still prevalent in the community, despite previous campaigns against the evil practice and implored the participants to be open and sincere during the discussion as that will enable them achieve success.

    A UNICEF resource person, Elder Ude Agwu, enlightened the people on the dangers of the practice and defined Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting as “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for cultural or other non-therapeutic reasons”.

    While revealing that an estimated number of over 130 million girls and women alive in Africa today have undergone FGM/C, Elder Agwu regretted that the act has been deeply entrenched as a social and cultural norm in many places and advised Ishielu people to put an end to the menace, irrespective of where it came from.

    Another resource person, Mrs. Nnenna Elekwa, a lawyer, described Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting as a dangerous and potentially life-threatening procedure that causes unspeakable pain and suffering on victims and recounted the short- and long-term effects to include chronic pain, infections, increased risk of HIV transmission, anxiety and depression, birth complications, infertility and, in worst cases, death.

    She therefore called for a collective decision by the people to abandon the practice, insisting that suchwill ensure that no single girl or family will be disadvantaged.

    The representative of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Barrister Mrs. Chidiebere Otu-odo enlightened the participants on the legal implications of the act thus, “FGM/C is a fundamental violation of women’s and girls’ rights

    It violates the rights to health and to physical integrity, to be protected from harmful traditional practices, to be free from injury, abuse and degrading treatment.

    Furthermore, girls usually undergo the practice without their informed consent, thus depriving them of the opportunity to make independent decisions about their bodies.”

    She further warned that, henceforth, no form of alteration should be made on the genitalia of any female child in Ishielu LGA, insisting that any alteration whatsoever amounts to mutilation or cutting.

    In her contribution, the Director, Social Welfare Department, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ebonyi State, Mrs Christiana Ogbu encouraged the people to ensure that they put into use every information brought to themby the UNICEF team while Mrs Azu Udu Chinenye reminded them that the concerted efforts by UNICEF to put an end to the evil practice is for their good, especially as they are the people to suffer the effects accruing from the act.

    The participants brainstormed on various issues raised during the dialogue on why the earlier messages against FGM in Ishielu LGA did not yield expected fruits, the effects of the practice on the people, factors that pose as barriers to the abandonment of the practice, way forward and possible individual/collective contributions to the stoppage of the acts.

    A communique issued at the end of the dialogue and presented by Chairman of the communique drafting committee, Mrs Anyim Veronica shows that the reason FGM/C has persisted in the area included; ignorance, non-challant attitudes of the government towards the issue, strong belief in cultural heritage, initiation into womanhood, belief that an uncircumcised females are highly promiscuous and low publicity on the issue.

    They appealed that government and NGOs should intensify health education and resolved as follows: that the practice is bad and has negative effects on the girl child and should be stopped, that traditional rulers should make pronouncements against FGM/C and that everybody in the local government must join the crusade to end the practice.

    The programme was largely attended by Traditional Rulers, Head Teachers of mapped primary schools, women groups, Religious Leaders, Community Based Organisations, Community Social Organisations, the Press and youths from the different communities in the Local Government Area.

    A monarch, Chief Walter Ebe and Pastor Ali Daniel in their separate reactions, thanked UNICEF and NOA for bringing the laudable programme to the community and promised to cascade the message to all nooks and crannies of the LGA.