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38 Child. Legal Rts. J. 88 (2018)
Around the World: Protecting Our Girls: Eliminating the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Somalia

handle is hein.journals/clrj38 and id is 92 raw text is: Around the World: Protecting Our Girls: Eliminating the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation in Somalia By: Adrienne Turner-McGowan I. INTRODUCTION: FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN AFRICA The girls often scream and howl and try to resist, so one woman holds her left leg, the other holds her right leg, and another holds her shoulders back. We pour cold water on her vagina to make her numb. Then I go down on one leg and start to cut with a razor. This experience of female genital mutilation, or FGM, is shared among millions of young girls in Somalia and many other parts of Africa. Female genital mutilation, a procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, is considered a religious and cultural practice that is said to prepare young girls for marriage. While female genital mutilation has been practiced throughout the continent of Africa for over a century, recently, many countries are beginning to ban the practice, citing it as torturous to girls and women. A newly passed constitution in Somalia bans the practice of female genital mutilation, but the prevalence of the practice has not decreased much since the constitution's passing in 2012. Though the Somali government has been working to phase out the practice in the past five years, many continue to resist the ban, seeing it as a cultural and religious staple. Despite the high risks of infection, severe bleeding, infertility, and even death, female genital mutilation is currently practiced in twenty-nine countries across Africa, affecting approximately 200 million girls alive today. Some of the countries in Africa that practice FGM include Egypt, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Somalia. Of the twenty-nine countries that perform FGM, about half perform the procedure before a girl reaches her fifth birthday; the other half performs the procedure between the ages of five and fourteen. There are four types of FGM that are performed throughout these African countries. The least severe form of FGM is Type I, known as clitoridectomy, which includes partial or total removal of the clitoris. Type II, called excision, includes partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora. Infibulation is Type III, which includes the cutting of major vaginal parts including the clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora and may involve stitching and/or narrowing of the vaginal opening. The last form of FGM is Type IV, which includes pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, and cauterization of the vagina for non-medical reasons. Female genital mutilation remains most heavily practiced in Somalia. Currently, approximately ninety-eight percent of girls and women in Somalia have been victim of female genital mutilation, more than any other country in Africa. Not only does Somalia serve as the highest country that practices FGM, Type III is the most common form of female genital mutilation performed in the country.

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