End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in South Sudan

By Beek Mabior, Nairobi, Kenya

Monday, July 20, 2020 (PW) — Female circumcision is satanic and I’m deeply dissatisfied and unhappy with this practice in our nation that fuel indignity and attack against women’s rights and freedoms in South Sudan and beyond. We all need to come together and eliminate this meaningless and disgraceful cultural practice in our country. A woman is a human that deserve to be respected and given her inalienable rights and liberties without segregation on earth. 

What is Female Genital Mutilation? It is a partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is conducted from days after birth to puberty and beyond. 

In many countries in which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of six. Moreover, procedures differ according to the nations and tribes. They include removal of the clitoral hood and clitoral glans; removal of the inner labia and removal of the internal and external labia and closure of the vulva. 

In this final procedure known as infibulation, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid; the vagina is opened for the intercourse and opened further for childbirth. Furthermore, what is the motive of FGM? The practice is deeply rooted in gender inequality and it is an attempts to curb womenfolk’s sexuality and reasons about purity, modesty and beauty. 

Who carried it out? It is usually initiated and carried out by shameless women against their fellow women and who see it as a source of honor and fear that failing to have their girls and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion in the society. 

Additionally, FGM is widely and secretly carried out in Africa, Southeast Asia, Middle East and although it is primarily concentrated in 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, female genital mutilation is a worldwide problem and it is also practiced in some countries in Asia and Latin America.

Moreover, FGM continues to persist amongst immigrants living in Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. 

Furthermore, FGM involves changing and damaging genitalia for non-medical motives and it is recognized globally as a violation of womankind’s rights and their integrity. Girls who are subjected to female genital mutilation face both short-term and long-term repercussions such as pain, shock, excessive bleeding, infections and complication in passing urine, as well as sexual and reproductive health and mental health issues. 

In addition to that, to completely succeed in eradicating the FGM, coordinated and systematic efforts are needed and they should engage the entire country and focus on sexual education, gender equality, womenfolk’s rights and a serious attention to the needs of women and girls who suffer from its impacts in South Sudan.

Additionally, FGM is in South Sudan and the really figures and prevalence is not properly investigated and documented by either the government and humanitarian organizations in the nation. A 2015 UNICEF report claimed that 1% of women and girls had been subjected to FGM in South Sudan.

The report by the children’s humanitarian agency is a complete reality but the exact figure in the nation is more than 1% and if genuinely and fully investigated; the whole country will be deeply shock by the real data of this senseless and wicked cultural practice in South Sudan. 

Furthermore, female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision which is normally carried out by a traditional circumcisers using a blade is criminalize in the transitional constitution of South Sudan and under section 259 of the penal code, anyone who “makes or causes” FGM commits an offence and is subject upon conviction to a punishment of imprisonment of up to ten years, or a fine, or both. 

In South Sudan, FGM is prohibited under two laws: The Child Act describes and criminalizes all types of FGM on children as well as the failure to report FGM and the Penal Code outlaw and sets out the perpetrators’ penalties for anyone causing FGM. They do not specifically address medicalized or inter-border FGM. 

Moreover, the Child Act doesn’t explicitly set out criminals’ penalties for FGM, under section 34 (2), it gives judicial powers to courts to impose penalties or sanctions and make rulings and directives that are considered appropriate for the motive of enforcing or securing children’s rights. 

Section 35 also mentioned that the failure to report the infringement of children’s rights is subject to punishment of up to six months’ imprisonment or a fine or both. 

Additionally, South Sudan is a member of the East Africa Community which has enacted the East Africa Community Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (the EAC Act) to promote and championed collaboration in the criminalization, condemnation, rejection and prosecution of the culprits of FGM through the harmonization of regional laws on FGM, policies, and strategies to eradicate FGM amongst six member states of EAC. 

The EAC Act on FGM is meant to sensitizes the countries on the dangers of FGM and to provide for the sharing of information, research and data in East Africa.

The EAC Act described FGM at Article 2 as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female organ for non-medical reasons” and sets out its objective in Article 3, which include (a) prohibiting FGM as a “trans-national crime” across member states , (b) setting minimum penalties for FGM, (c) establishing institutions to foster co-operation and (d) developing and harmonizing policies, laws , strategies and programmes to prosecute offenders, prevent FGM and provide services to victims and girls at risk of FGM. 

Moreover, the fine and years of imprisonment of FGM’s offenders in our transitional constitution is another complete joke like that of LGBT rights and the remarkable penalty should at least be thirty years if you want to smile with the culprits of FGM and don’t desire to condemn them to lifetime imprisonment. 

The attempt, experiment, redesigning and removal or injury of female reproductive organs can lead to many health and birth complications in a woman’s life and it can cause infertility which is a twin to murder because if it was intentionally, shamelessly and heartlessly carried out with impunity by an evil circumciser with an ill motive of redesigning the private part of a female which may lead to future infertility for a woman due to the damages of her private part perhaps, then definitely, that one should be treated as a murder of unborn future children of a woman if she becomes infertile later on. 

Because the circumciser or doer of FGM is not God in the first place, so the question will be, who give him/her powers and rights to shamelessly circumcise women even when it is Biblically and constitutionally unacceptable and morally wicked. If it is a government, society or our worldly corrupted cultures, then it has to be made public. 

Our earthly governments, societies and confused cultures have no abilities and powers to create human lives and this is clearly portrayed by our inability and complete failure as humankind to defeat death and create human life artificially or scientifically that’ll perfectly resemble the real human as created by God. So who are we to undermine God and defile the laws of nature?

You don’t either idiotically or jokingly redesign other humans’private parts because that is a clear crime and you’re not a co-creator to God. If You desire to redesign, then do it with yourself and leave others alone. Finally, The Ministry of Gender, Child, and Social Welfare is responsible for promotion of gender equality and the protection and welfare of women and children in South Sudan. 

And within the Directorate of Gender and of child welfare there are a range of policies and programmes to deal with FGM, gender-based violence and to support women and girls’ empowerment. Other relevant national authorities responsible for upholding the law include the Directorate of Public prosecution and the South Sudan Police Service.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan and other humanitarian agencies also runs programmes to tackle harmful cultural practices, including child and forced marriages and FGM. So allgovernment institutions concern and humanitarian agencies should come together and address the FGM issue decisively and together we’ll have FGM free South Sudan.

The author is a concerned citizen who can be reached via his Email: betterarticle165@gmail.com

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