On August 24,
2017, around 4:45 pm, I took the train to Granville, heading north on the
Redline Train to Howard, and transferred to the Purple Line train heading to
Evanston. At Noyes, I exited the train,
walked West on Noyes Street and turned South onto Ridge Ave, arriving at the
Lorrain H. Morton Civic Center around 5:30 pm. I carried my Power-Point
presentation on Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM) and Women Rights in Africa, coupled with my desire to collaborate
with Kadi Doumba’s survivor of FGM. It was a beautiful day to meet people,
share and learn on issues of FGM and Women’ rights in Africa.
At 6:30 pm, I
started by thanking the audience for coming, and I outlined the different
sections of my presentation. I introduced the topic FGM and Women’ Rights in
Africa by emphasizing that circumcision in Africa was not a simple physical
act, but a tradition which embodied cultural and educational facets. It was the
passage from boyhood to manhood, and from girlhood to womanhood. During this
period, both boys and girls go through rituals marked by thousands of years’
traditions. There were rituals to be followed, dancing and singing’ ceremonies,
prayers and sacrifices to be made. Further, each was taught the history of
their tribe, the secrets of their communities, and values any respectable
member of their community must have, such as courage, respect, responsibility,
and community. For these reasons, the practice of circumcision has been an
indispensable ritual in many African communities and has endured the test of
time. After going through circumcision, the status of these boys and girls was
elevated to a higher social echelon. They emerged purified and as a full member
of their community with all the respect and rights of an adult. As Komo
Kenyatta described in his book Facing
Mount Kenya, “The initiation of both sexes is the most important custom
among the Gikuyu. It is looked upon as deciding factors in giving a boy or a
girl the status of manhood or womanhood in the Gikuyu community.”
However, since
the 1970’s, many legal advocates, health experts, and religious leaders have
agreed, if circumcision has been healthy to boys, it has been harmful to
girls. Therefore, they believe the
custom of FGM must stop, clarifying that the practice was a women’s rights violation.
Since then, many terms have been used to describe the phenomena (varying from
Female Genital Cutting to Female Circumcision, and Female Genital Mutilation),
but the chosen term by legal experts has been Female Genital Mutilation. FGM is
recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a practice whereby “all
procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia
or injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
The WHO
classified FGM into four different types, which are:
Type
I: Also, known as clitoridectomy: this type consists of partial or total
removal of the clitoris and/or its prepuce.
Type
II: Also, known as excision: the clitoris and labia minora are partially
or totally removed, with or without excision of the labia majora.
Type III: Also,
known as infibulation or pharaonic: the most severe form, which consists of the
narrowing of the vaginal opening by creating a seal.
Type IV: It
consists all of the other procedures to the genitalia of women for non-medical
purposes, such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.
Before, going
further, we must recognize that the practice of FGM has not been exclusive to
African customs. The practice has been known in several Middle Eastern countries
(i.e., Yemen, Iraq-Kurdistan, etc.) as
well as Asia (i.e., Malaysia, Indonesia), in Europe and the United States.
Sarah W. Rodriguez, in her article “Rethinking
the History of Female Circumcision and Clitoridectomy: American Medicine and
Female Sexuality in the late Nineteenth Century,” published December 9,
2007, found that in the 19th century, in Europe and the U.S., gynecologists
believed removing the clitoris could treat insanity and masturbation. For instance, in 1813, a British Doctor,
Robert Thomas, suggested clitoridectomy as a cure for nymphomania. In the U.S.,
a 1985 paper in the Obstetrical &
Gynecological Survey, reported that clitoridectomies were performed in the
U.S. clear into the 1960s to treat hysteria, erotomania, and lesbianism. Today,
there are cases of FGM among immigrant communities living in the U.S. and
Europe. Considering, USA Today article titled Michigan “Genital Mutilation” Case Will Test Our Country’s Political
Correctness published June 5, 2017, by Paula Kweskin mentioned Doctors
Tahera Shafiq and Farida Attara’s arrests for engaging in FGM procedures; in
the United States, 507,000 women are at risk or have undergone the procedures of
FGM.
Therefore, it
appears clear that FMG is a global problem. On February 2017, the WHO estimated
that more than 200 million girls and women alive have been through FGM,
crossing some 30 countries in Africa, and around the world. They were young
girls between infancy and age 15.
Many legal
scholars consider FGM to be a violation of women and children’s human rights.
• Rights to health.
• The right of the child.
• The right to be free from discrimination.
• The right to sexual and physical integrity.
• To be free from torture, cruel, inhuman,
and degrading treatment.
The practice of
Female Genital Mutilation is proving to violate certain Human Rights norms.
• Convention of Elimination All form of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
• Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR).
• International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR).
• The African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights.
• Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.
• Human Rights Protection Within ECOWAS.
On June 2010, a
Human Rights Watch study divided African countries into two categories when it
came to dealing with FGM. Countries with laws against FGM; and countries
without laws that support FGM eradication.
Countries with
laws or regulations against FGM include Burkina Faso, Central African Republic,
Djibouti, Ghana, Guinea, and Sudan.
Governments that
support FGM eradication include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea,
Kenya, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.
Legal scholars’
views on the solution to end the practice of FGM in Africa remain divided. The divisions are not new, as there exists
residue of an ongoing battle between universalists and relativists schools when
it comes to the applicability of international human rights norms.
Universalists believe that human rights norms are universal laws and must apply
to all countries, while relativists think human rights norms took their roots
from occidental cultures and values, and should therefore not be imposed on the
letter without taking in consideration other countries customs and cultures. I
believe a balanced approach must be taken to stop FGM, and the African
Governments can help by:
• Providing accurate and accessible
information and education about FGM.
• Developing a legislative and policy
framework to eradicate FGM, including a law banning the practice for girls and
non-consenting adult women.
• Mobilizing communities to develop their own
FGM eradication strategies.
At 7:05 pm, I
concluded by voicing the need on working together to deal with FGM. I reminded the audience that FGM was not an
African problem, but a universal one, and we must unite and push for the FGM
death sentence. I cited Khalid Adem’s 2003 case, whereby Khalid was the first
person convicted related to the practice of FGM in the U.S.; and the paradox
between laws and their applicability in Guinea, where FGM is illegal under
article 265 of the Penal code, but 98% of girls are subjected to FGM.
After my
Power-Point presentation, we watched a 13-minute 2009 documentary called
“Female Genital Cutting in Kenya”.
At 7:20 pm,
Khadi shared her story of being an FGM survivor from Mali. With a serene voice, she admitted that she
couldn’t recall the physical pain, but that the memory of the procedure – going
through FGM – still haunted her … and would haunt her forever! She acknowledged
that she could not redo the past, but she believed that she could help to fight
the practice of FGM by being the voice of the voiceless Malians girls today, so
they would not go through the same psychological trauma she had been through. Her first step – she started at home,
protecting her two girls from this practice. She returned to Bamako, Mali to
work with a group of women advocating for the end of FGM. She ended her
testimony thanking people for giving her a platform to express herself and for
their support in the fight against this practice.
At 7: 30 pm, in
the name of freedom of expression, we opened the floor, the audience grasped
the opportunity to ask questions and to share comments. An audience member
claimed that the FGM was not a tradition, but a barbaric act, committed by
uneducated people. Another member believed that no person has the right to
interfere on people cultures. Someone asked about the meaning of love, when
women were subjected to such treatment, while another thought the problem was
more about a lack of solidarity amongst women, drawing a parallel between the
civil rights movement of the 1960s and the practice of FGM.
Both Kadi and I
responded to the questions to the best of our combined abilities. We listened to comments, whether or not we
actually agreed with them; but as Julian Baggini said “You should protest about
the views of people you disagree with over major moral issues, and argue them
down, but you should not try to silence them, however repugnant you find them.
That is the bitter pill free speech requires us to swallow.”
At 8:30 pm, the
discussion on FGM and Women’s Rights in Africa came to end. I congratulated
Kadi, gave her a hug, and promised to keep in touch. She walked, turning her
back to traditions, caring for her two daughters, and saving her future
grandchildren from FGM. She accepted what happened to her, and found herself a
fight that must be fought, and a voice to end the practice of Female Genital
Mutilation.
I know, as a
man, when two bodies in love come together, they emerge as one, meet with the
gods of love, and give sometimes a light to a new life. The whole journey
becomes a joyful experience coming from two hearts. But, for many women victims of Female Genital
Mutilation, the journey of bodies coming together, supposedly of joy and
beauty, may turn into pain and sorrow.
It is not Right! Girls victim of FGM often suffer a feeling of stolen
sexual pleasures and go through the psychologic trauma which haunts them for
the rest of their life. It must stop!
In Africa, each
year 3,000 girls are subjected to FGM, without echoes. I headed home knowing my
presentation would not bring an end to FGM; but, my duty was to share. Now, I hope whoever attended that day of
August 24, 2017, and read my writings of October 10, 2017, will join the 3,000
voiceless African girls, and together with the echo of our voices, break the
ceilings of 5,000 years of traditional FGM practices.
Sincerely,
Alpha