Honest debate on female mutilation vital but hysterical claims don't help
I FIND myself agreeing with points made by Kevin Myers in his recent column on FGM. For example, he is right to see past the increasingly bizarre claims from the Nigerian Ambassador that female genital mutilation does not happen there. In fact one in three Nigerian women have suffered this cruel and horrific practice.
The responsibility to protect girls from female genital mutilation rests with the state. It is Nigeria's responsibility, not Ireland's, to protect Nigerian girls from female genital mutilation. But it is a responsibility the Nigerian government is failing to live up to.
They told the United Nations in 2006 that Nigeria still has, " ... many customary laws that provide institutional support for practices such as ... FGM...Even where statutory laws exist to outlaw some of these inimical customary and religious practices, practical experience and evidence abound that enforcement level is negligible".
Female genital mutilation is about oppression. It has become a custom because of views held by men in certain communities that women who have not been mutilated in this fashion are unsuitable for marriage. They are seen as unclean or promiscuous. It is not about religion or quaint tribal custom, it is about mutilating girls to control their sexuality.
According to UNICEF three million girls are subjected to female genital mutilation every year. That's over 8,000 a day. It is practiced in 28 African countries and some parts of Asia and the Middle East.
We need two approaches to deal with female genital mutilation. First of all we need to provide support to organisations and governments trying to eliminate FGM in Africa and Asia. They are working with communities where it is common to abandon the practice.
My colleague Brima Sheriff is the Director of Amnesty International in Sierra Leone. The rate of FGM there is as high as 94pc and the wife of a presidential candidate in 2002 sponsored the mutilation of 1,500 girls as a vote-winning exercise. Brima's work against FGM in that country has seen him face death threats and his home attacked.
As well as the dangers to the life and health of the girls, people working to help end FGM point to the long-term implications for girls in accessing other rights such as education.
"We meet families thinking about this and tell them, if you cut this girl, she is normally going to be forced into early marriage. And if she is forced into early marriage, that means she is going to drop out of school," Brima explained.
FGM is not just an issue for developing countries. The British Medical Association estimates there are between three and four thousand new cases in Britain alone every single year. In Ireland, AkiDwA -- a national network of African women living in Ireland -- estimates that around 2,500 women living here have suffered FGM.
In March the European Parliament called on the EU Commission to develop a strategy to deal with FGM in Europe and to assist countries outside Europe in eliminating it.
Ireland, through its White Paper on Irish Aid, has made a commitment to working against gender-based violence like FGM as a matter of priority. Health Minister Mary Harney confirmed last month she is considering introducing legislation to ban FGM here in Ireland and last November the Government adopted the State's first national action plan on the issue.
These are all welcome initiatives. But as well as working with governments and activists to eliminate FGM we need to protect families who flee their homes because their government is unable, or unwilling, to protect them.
Most will not make it to Europe, let alone Ireland. But if a few manage to escape and seek asylum here, should we turn our backs on them? When women have a genuine fear their babies will be mutilated if they are sent home, when their governments cannot or will not protect them, we have an obligation, not just in law, but in our common humanity, to provide sanctuary.
We do need reform of our immigration system. We need to see asylum applicants get a fair hearing, and the Irish government has a responsibility to investigate fraudulent claims. But to simply decide that the possibility of a fraudulent claim means genuine claims must be ignored is to risk condemning girls to be mutilated.
I agree with Mr Myers on one other thing. We do need an honest debate on immigration. But hysterical warnings about 70 million Nigerians turning up on our doorstep make no contribution to such a debate.
Colm O'Gorman is Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland
- COLM O'GORMAN
