Despite ban, UK females are falling victims of female genital mutilation (FMG), while according to statistics, every year more than 3,000 females are becoming victims of such notoriety. As FMG is banned in the United Kingdom, guardian of the Muslim females takes their minor daughters to some of the African countries, including Egypt, where female genital mutilation is performed.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but there’s no medical reason for this to be done.
It’s also known as female circumcision or cutting, and by other terms, such as Sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others.
FGM is usually carried out on young girls between infancy and the age of 15, most commonly before puberty starts.
It’s illegal in the UK and is child abuse.
It’s very painful and can seriously harm the health of women and girls.
It can also cause long-term problems with sex, childbirth and mental health.
Basma Kamel (30), a student at London Metropolitan University was taken by her mother to Egypt under the pretension of summer vacation in 2019, where her she was taken to a backstreet clinic and was forced to FMG at the age of nine. Kamel’s mother was encouraged by her friends and other mothers in doing so.
Despite such cruelty is declared illegal in 1985, over the last seven years alone, more than 30,000 cases of FMG were newly identified by rights activists.
According to Basma Kamel, her mother never gave her a proper explanation why she had to have the circumcision, but added: ‘She said that this is something we all do for all girls, so every woman has to go through it.
She further told Kamel, it’s good for her future when she gets married.
“I didn’t really understand what the difference was when I was nine” Kamel exclaimed.
Since the surgery, Kamel is experiencing PTSD and complicated intersexual relationships. Before coming to the UK in 2019, she was unable to have a sexual relationship.
PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
As a FGM survivor, it is really important for the 30-year-old Basma Kamel to raise awareness, as the procedure is still being done today, despite being illegal in the UK since 1985 and punishable with up to 14 years in prison.
According to the World Heald Organization (WHO), female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional harmful practice that involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in the countries where the practice is concentrated. In addition, every year, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation, the majority of whom are cut before they turn 15 years old.
FGM has no health benefits. It can lead to not only immediate health risks, but also to long-term complications to women’s physical, mental and sexual health and well-being.
The practice is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights of girls and women and as an extreme form of gender discrimination, reflecting deep-rooted inequality between the sexes. As it is practiced on young girls without consent, it is a violation of the rights of children. FGM also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.
Female genital mutilations are practiced in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Dijbouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Indonesia, Maldives, Iraq and Yemen.
The practice is almost universal in Somalia, Guinea and Djibouti, with levels above 90 per cent, while it affects no more than 1 per cent of girls and women in Cameroon and Uganda.
And although FGM is often perceived as being connected to Islam, perhaps because it is practiced among many Muslim groups, not all Islamic groups practice FGM, and many non-Islamic groups do, including some Christians, Ethiopian Jews, and followers of certain traditional African religions.
