ILLEGAL GENITAL CUTTING PERSISTS
Jan 28th, 2009 by admin
An increasing number of baby girls in Burkina Faso are being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). The country banned the practice in 1991 and offenders risk spending 10 years in prison and paying fines of up to 1500 US dollars. But the government says at least 70 babies were admitted to hospital in the first three months of 2008 after circumcisions went wrong. It is believed babies are being cut, rather than young girls in the hope that FGM will go undetected. Brigitte Yameogo of the non-profit organisation, Mwangaza Action, said the fact that people are developing strategies to break the law shows some communities do not understand why they need to abandon genital cutting. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that consequences of female circumcision can include lifelong psychological and physical trauma. Some three million girls, mostly under 15, are circumcised every year worldwide.
