I was really pleased to see the Guardian launch its campaign against FGM (Finish female genital mutilation, six February) and can only agree with the phone for secondary heads to teach college students about the practice before the summer holidays. As a Conservative spokesman for women’s rights and gender equality in the European parliament, I am pushing the FGM agenda in Europe, the place we have about 500,000 ladies at risk. Nonetheless, a lack of awareness and the hidden nature of this crime are holding back the campaign to shield youthful women in the United kingdom. I feel education in schools is a single of the ideal techniques to give girls at danger information to assist them resist FGM and to tackle the cultural drives behind this practice. This week, we passed a resolution that demands action to finish the horror of FGM and areas emphasis on the fact that this barbaric practice occurs to youngsters. Subsequent week, I will be holding a prevalence event, the initial of its variety, which will be a chance for all member states to co-operate with each other and exchange info in the fight towards this brutal practice.
Marina Yannakoudakis
Conservative MEP for London
• I run a maternity hospital in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland. Each day I see the effect FGM can have on women’s health, and their potential to give birth safely. Thanks to the stability afforded by our separation from Somalia, this is a scourge we have been in a position to start off tackling. I train younger females to turn out to be midwives in their neighborhood communities. In order to pass their exams, they have to commit to assist finish the practice. Thanks to this initiative and several other individuals, a current Unicef study located that only 25% of ladies aged 1 to 14 have undergone FGM in Somaliland, in contrast to 99% in Somalia. This amount continues to lessen, but as well slowly. There is nonetheless significantly perform to be completed, and women in the Somali diaspora can support by getting at the forefront of this cultural alter. The selections they make influence attitudes in the country of their birth. Women like Fahma Mohamed, who are bravely speaking out in newspapers such as yours, as effectively as on-line, may possibly help to make a variation back in Somalia. By bucking the trend, they may begin 1 of their personal.
Edna Adan
Director, University Hospital and former foreign minister of Somaliland, Hargeisa
• I have observed in Nigeria the sick-effects of FGM, which contain bleeding, infection, scarring, psychological scarring and impairment of sexual working. I keep in mind a lady enduring an very agonizing labour, making an attempt in vain to push out her infant – obstructed by scarring of the vulva, a difficulty which was simply solved in hospital. I have 3 sensible recommendations for people who want to help this campaign. Firstly, do not contact it circumcision, as the ActionAid advertisement in the Guardian does. It is not circumcision. This encourages people to feel it is the equivalent of male circumcision, which it is not. FGM involves, at the least, removal of the clitoris. In some regions, this kind of as east Africa, it involves the elimination of the main and minor labia with stitching up to near the opening, leaving a little hole for the expulsion of urine and menstrual blood. This kind of a closure has to be opened by additional surgery to let sexual intercourse. All this without having consent or anaesthesia. Secondly, indicator the petition at change.org. Thirdly, read any of the books by Waris Dirie or Fauziya Kassindja’s book Do They Hear You When You Cry.
Michael Cox
(Retired gynaecologist) Nuneaton
• It is to be hoped the very welcome debate about FGM will also be extended to the opposite sex. Circumcision is just as significantly a form of child abuse. This outmoded practice confers no confirmed positive aspects and must not be a rite or ritual that is accepted in modern day society.
Jan Arriens
Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire
• Can we end speaking of the practice as getting been “outlawed” in 1985, as if it had been lawful till then? It might have been the topic of particular legislation in 1985, but it was and stays grievous bodily harm contrary to part 18 of the Offences Against the Particular person Act 1861. It is tough to see why it should not also be prosecuted as sexual assault.
Naomi Cunningham
Polegate, East Sussex
• Prosecutions are necessary to demonstrate it is illegal. Just select up your pen, Theresa May.
Ruth Lewis
Middlesbrough
Action essential to end horrors of female genital mutilation | @guardianletters
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