9.2 African Initiatives
9.2.4. Drawbacks in the Enforcement of the Law
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the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the practice was cited as a danger to women‟s reproductive well-being and violation of their rights.
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In some instances, law enforcement authorities would round up girls who circumcised themselves and place them in camps to perform forced labour once they healed.
Sometimes, local guards would burn the homes of the initiated girls‟ families.
Antonazzo (2010:474) notes that interviews with Kenyan women who took part in that “I will circumcise myself” campaign revealed that when criminalization drove female circumcision underground, all the ban succeeded in eliminating was the cultural traditions that were beneficial to women: “What had involved three years of teachings, ceremonies and celebrations were reduced to blunt cuts performed by girls who had no idea what they were doing. David M‟Naikiuru who was a Kenyan government official in the 1950s remarked in 1995 that the ban on female circumcision actually encouraged rather than deterred excision.”
In 1994, Ghana became the first independent African nation to prohibit female circumcision. As of 2000, female circumcision has been outlawed in Burkina Faso, Togo, the Central African Republic, Djibouti and Senegal (Antonazzo, 2000:473). In 2004, Ethiopia became the fourteenth African country to pass a law banning female circumcision. One year earlier, the Inter-African Committee (IAC) organized a three- day General Assembly conference in Addis Ababa. More than 200 delegates from over 30 countries spoke out openly against female circumcision and declared February 6 as a Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Circumcision (Finke, 2006:5).
However, Antonazzo (2000:473), points out that since the laws have been put in place, there had been no indication that female circumcision has declined.
Elchalal et. al. (1999:106) rightly point out that it had been observed that when legislation is imposed by Government on female circumcision, the practice continues to be carried out underground as has been seen in countries such as Sudan and Egypt.
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It has to be conceded that enforcing the law can be a „double-edged sword‟ and has been self defeating in many cases – for example, it can prevent parents from seeking medical assistance when complications such as haemorrhaging arise.
In some countries circumcisers are convicted according to the legislation in the specific countries. Women‟s International Network News (1996:1) reports the following:
The new legislation against female circumcision is being applied in Bukina Faso and Ghana. In Burkina Faso last August a neighbour denounced a circumciser by telephone. Representatives of the IAC national committee of Burkina Faso accompanied by the police rushed to the circumciser‟s home. Caught in the act, the circumciser was arrested and taken into custody, along with the parents of the excised girls and all those who attended the mutilation ceremony. That evening, the incident was reported on the TV news, with a long commentary during which the detainees were shown to the public .
In Ghana in March 2005 an 8-day old baby was rushed to the Wa Government Hospital bleeding profusely and pale from loss of blood, after she had been circumcised. Following a press report that the hospital‟s medical staff had saved her life, police located the perpetrators. The circumciser and the baby‟s parents were arrested and charged. Under the Criminal Code Amendment Act of 1994, female circumcision is an offence punishable by law.
Dareer (1982:28) found that in Sudan although the circumcision kits of the midwives were confiscated by the Government, they still continued to perform circumcisions.
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Furthermore, it is very difficult to trace the circumcisers because the community will not reveal the names of the circumcisers.
Cottingham and Kismodi (2009:131) point out that the law is only one component of a multidisciplinary approach to halting the practice of female circumcision and that outreach efforts by civil society, governments, and other players aimed at changing perceptions and attitudes regarding female circumcision should accompany legislation regarding female circumcision.
9.2.5. Open Discussion on the Subject of Female Circumcision in Light of Human Rights
Finke (2006:15) points out that discussion groups and inter-generational dialogue on the issue of female circumcision allow participants to think over their situation and come up with their own solutions. Such approaches are also finding acceptance on the political level. Moreover, those that are working towards abandonment of the practice of female circumcision are also realizing the need to also focus on human rights.
According to Cottingham and Kismodi (2009:129), since the 1980s, female circumcision have increasingly been recognized as a violation of several human rights principles, norms, and standards such as: principles of equality and non- discrimination on the basis of sex, the right to life when the procedure results in death, and the right to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Female circumcision is also acknowledged as a violation of a person‟s right to the highest attainable standard of health, since it interferes with healthy genital tissue in the absence of medical necessity and can lead to severe consequences for a women‟s physical and mental health.
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Furthermore, discussion on the issue of female circumcision within the family is also equally important. Cottingham and Kismodi (2009:120) point out that since parents fear that their daughters will remain unmarried, collectivity in the abandonment strategy for female circumcision is therefore vital. After all, they point out that experience had shown that only if the decision against the practice was widespread within the practicing community then only would it be possible to bring about a new social norm that does not harm girls or violate their rights. In other words, therefore, community-led action is therefore crucial in the fight against female circumcision.