Mauritania confronts tradition of female genital mutilation

2008-03-02

With a new UN-led initiative to curb the practice of female genital mutilation around the world, Mauritania – where an estimated 71% of women undergo the practice – faces significant challenges in alerting its people to the dangers and human rights implications of the tradition.

By Mohamed Yahya Ould Abdel Wedoud for Magharebia in Nouakchott – 02/03/08

[Getty Images] UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro announced a new campaign Wednesday (February 27th) to reduce the practice of female genital mutilation worldwide by 2015.

Ten United Nations agencies launched a joint campaign Wednesday (February 27th) to reduce the practice of female genital mutilation by 2015, and eradicate it entirely "within a generation".

UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, who announced the initiative, said that while "communities that practice female genital mutilation report a variety of social and religious reasons for continuing with it, [when] seen from a human rights perspective, the practice reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women."

The UN action plan unveiled last week said an estimated 71.3 % of girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 in Mauritania had undergone female genital mutilation, also called female circumcision or "cutting".

In Mauritania, most people performing the operations are traditional attendants who don't have medical experience or knowledge of sanitation. This reality threatens the lives of many young girls. Bleeding and shock are among the immediate consequences, but long-term health effects can include chronic pain, infections and trauma.

"I remember well the day when I was circumcised. I was seven years old at that time," Fatema told Magharebia. "One of our female neighbours did the operation. I was in great pain. My hands were tied. I was bleeding, and it was dealt with using traditional methods. Later, I noticed a weakness in my sexual abilities, something that stayed with me for a while."

Fatema added, "The strange thing is that my family was very convinced of that shameful tradition. Therefore, all my sisters were subjected to the same experience. After this bitter experience, I hope to make my daughters avoid this ordeal which sound human nature rejects."

Mauritanian civil society has not yet launched awareness campaigns to curb the phenomenon socially or religiously, nor has the government enacted a law banning female genital mutilation.

However, social worker Mohamed El Salek Ould Mohamed Lamine noted, "We have recently seen important medical and religious symposiums on state media channels. We hope they are the start of a serious examination of the phenomenon of female genital mutilation, which results in many social and health problems. Figures and statistics in this field are frightening, and require urgent efforts aimed at changing mentalities."

Some Mauritanian families who engage in the practice use religion as a pretext to justify what they consider part of their cultural heritage. This is despite the fact that clerics in the country have announced that female genital mutilation has no basis in religion.

One middle-aged woman told Magharebia in an angry voice, "It's a necessity and a religious duty at the same time: it is a necessity because it preserves the dignity of the women as well as that of her family and it is a religious duty because Islam preached it. For these two reasons, our ancestors were interested in cutting their daughters. We are quite sure that our ancestors were not doing something in vain."

But according to Imam and jurisprudent Saaden Ould Bouh, "The phenomenon of female genital mutilation doesn't have any roots in the Qur'an or sunnah. Rather, it is a social tradition that has merely been practiced by certain societies for some time."

He continued, "Islamic sharia, whose principle is based on the saying 'no excess or negligence,' can only endorse things that serve humanity in this world and the afterlife. Therefore, this practice, which is harmful to society and women alike, must disappear. Leaders, such as media people and others, have to enlighten public opinion on this matter."

Mauritanian women may see changes soon. According to a source close to the Mauritanian government, a group of MPs is currently preparing a draft law to ban the practice.