Female Genital Mutilation: The term “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons” (FGM) describes female genital mutilation. The human rights of women and girls are violated by FGM.
Marginalized Communities
More than 230 million women and girls have had their hair chopped worldwide. Africa, with more than 144 million, makes up the biggest portion of this total. With almost 80 million, Asia comes in second, and the Middle East has an additional 6 million. In tiny practicing communities and in the countries where migrants are going, another one to two million people are impacted.
WHO’s Four Major Classifications
In 1995 and again in 2007, the World Health Organisation (WHO) divided FGM into four major categories:
Type I: Removal of the prepuce and/or clitoris, either completely or partially
Type II: Removal of the labia majora and clitoris, either completely or partially, with or without excision of the former
Type III: narrowing of the vaginal entrance, either with or without clitoris removal, by severing and joining the labia majora and/or minora to form a sort of seal. The majority of the time, the labia’s cut edges are sewn together; this is known as “infibulation.”
Type IV: Any further hazardous non-medical treatments that involve the female genitalia, such as cauterization, piercing, pricking, incising, and scraping
International Legal Framework
Numerous international treaties and conventions, as well as national laws in many nations, ban FGM. The argument that FGM breaches the right to health and bodily integrity is based on Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stipulates that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being.”
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women may be used because FGM is seen as a form of violence against women. Similarly, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment applies to it if it is defined as a form of torture.
Furthermore, FGM is against the Convention on the Rights of the Child since it is seen as a customary practice harmful to children’s health and is typically carried out on minors. In 2008, ten UN organisations released an interagency declaration on FGM.
Prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
The available information from large-scale representative surveys demonstrates that, although prevalence varies greatly, FGM is highly concentrated in a wide range of nations from the Atlantic coast to the Horn of Africa, in regions of the Middle East like Iraq and Yemen, and in some Asian nations like Indonesia.With rates of 90% or more, the practice is practically common in Somalia, Guinea, and Djibouti, although it only affects 1% of women and girls in Cameroon and Uganda.
