Bamako – On Thursday community leaders in Mali converged to mark the international day of of campaigning against female genital mutilation.
Female genital mutilation is still very legal in Mali and comes with its many complications for women and young girls.
Moussocoura Sidibe, the spokesman for 14 communities representing numerous ethnic groups said they were taking “the solemn commitment to abandon the practice of FGM and early and forced marriage involving girls in our communities”.
The practice of female genital mutilation, or female circumcision, involves the ritual removal of the external genitalia of young girls with the aim of ensuring their chastity as women.
The painful and fatal procedure is carried out on girls from infancy to the age of 15 and has complications such as infection through the use of unsterilized equipment, heavy bleeding.
Items such as razors, glass and knives are used to carry out the procedure.
As the women get older other complications that arise are infertility and complications at child birth.
One Fanta Kourouma, a housewife from Yirimadio said she had been campaigning against FGM since 1982.
“I lost a girl because of circumcision. I have a second daughter, who continues to live with the side-effects… I am very proud of what is happening today in my own neighbourhood,” she said.
Youssouf Bagayogo, A government official who attended the ceremony, Youssouf Bagayogo welcomed the announcement and said that “soon, the government will legislate to ban the practice”, without giving a timetable.
Statistics issued by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) show that from the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where FGM is concentrated, more than 125 million girls and women have been subjected to FGM.
“Human development cannot be fully achieved as long as women and girls continue to suffer from this human rights violation or live in fear of it,” UNFPA executive director Babatunde Osotimehin said in a statement to mark the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.
“It is an affront to their human dignity, an assault on their health and an impediment to the well-being of their families, communities and countries.
“Human development cannot be fully achieved as long as women and girls continue to suffer from this human rights violation or live in fear of it.”
Conutries such as Uganda, Kenya and Guinea-Bissau have recently adopted laws criminalising the practice.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted the need to “strive to preserve the best in any culture, and leave harm behind,” in a statement to mark the day.
“Although some would argue that this is a ‘tradition’, we must recall that slavery, so-called honour killings and other inhumane practices have been defended with the same weak argument,” he said.
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