The United Nations denounced this Saturday that, in a single day, three dozen girls were subjected to the practice of genital mutilation in the state of Jubaland, in southern Somalia.
The mutilations took place in the town of Kismayu, the organization says, without giving further details.
The sentence – recalls Europa Press – comes after the Ifrah Foundation, which fights to eradicate female genital mutilation in Somalia, where it has been operating since 2013, and in the Horn of Africa, denounced, this Wednesday, that at least 29 girls had been mutilated in the camp for internally displaced persons located 25 kilometers from Kismayu.
“All the victims were too young to give their informed consent” to a practice that “caused them severe bleeding,” lamented the representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Somalia, Niyi Ojuolape.
“Strongly condemning what happened”, the organization warns that the drought and the humanitarian crisis in Somalia increase “the risk for Somali girls as a result of this practice”, which prevails in practically the entire country.
Niyi Ojuolape called on the Somali government to “take all necessary measures to ensure that those responsible for this incident take responsibility for deterring others and protecting the rights of women and girls.”
Female genital mutilation – which consists of the total or partial removal of genital parts, with serious physical, mental and sexual consequences, and which can even cause death – continues to be a common practice in around thirty countries, mainly in Africa, and It is estimated that it puts three million girls and young women at risk each year and that around 200 million women and girls have already been subjected to the practice.
Somalia is one of the approximately 30 countries worldwide that still maintain the practice of FGM, with a high prevalence rate and the absence of a law that prohibits a practice ancestrally rooted in communities.
Portugal has a reporting system for women affected by FGM residing in the national territory since 2014, with an estimate of 6,500 extirpated women living in the national territory, mostly from Guinea-Bissau.
Source: TSF
