13 Heavens: Campaign Against FGM

Friday, February 6, 2009

Campaign Against FGM

"Female genital mutilation is practiced in 38 of 54 member states of the African Union. Whatever the method used (traditional or modern) to excise is a violation of the woman's dignity and integrity. I dedicate Moolaade' to mothers, women who struggle to abolish this legacy of bygone days." - Sembene

Female Genital mutilation (FGM), a fundamental human rights violation, takes different forms in different countries: the partial or total removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy), the removal of the entire clitoris and the cutting of the labia minora (excision), or in its most extreme form the removal of all external genitalia and the stitching together of the two sides of the vulva (infibulation). It is estimated that more than 130 million girls and women around the world have undergone genital mutilation. At least 2 million girls every year - 6,000 each day - are at risk of suffering FGM. The cutting, which is generally done without anesthetic, may have lifelong health consequences including chronic infection, severe pain during urination, menstruation, sexual intercourse, and childbirth, and psychological trauma. Some girls die from the cutting, usually as a result of bleeding or infection. Although FGM is practiced in the name of tradition and culture in many countries, many grassroots organizations in these countries are fighting within the same tradition and culture to eradicate it. Equality Now publishes the newsletter AWAKEN: A Voice for the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation, and directs funding to organizations working in their communities via the Fund for Grassroots Activism to End FGM.