Irish lawmakers are taking action to ban the practise of female genital mutilation, making it a specific criminal offence.
Senator Ivana Bacik of the Labour Party introduced a bill prohibiting the practice during a Seanad Éireann debate last week, and Health Minister Mary Harney has pledged her commitment to publish the bill within six months.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) entails the partial or total removal of exterior female genitalia and is practised in at least 28 countries in Africa as well as in the Middle East and Asia. More than three million women and girls are subjected to FGM every year.
The Dublin-based AkiDwA African women’s network estimates that FGM affects 500,000 women living in Europe, and found in a 2008 study that more than 2,500 women subjected to the practice are living in Ireland.
In a statement posted on her Facebook page, Senator Bacik said FGM is sometimes referred to as female circumcision but that it is far more drastic than male circumcision.
“Beyond the obvious initial pain that it causes, it has long-term physiological, sexual and psychological effects upon girls and women,” said Bacik. “It can cause death and has serious and permanent health implications.”
Bacik explained that the Women’s Health Council and various NGOs in Ireland have recommended legislation to ban FGM. She said that in the Dáil, Liz McManus TD introduced a bill to prohibit FGM in 2001, and Jan O’Sullivan TD published similar legislation last year.
“But there has never been a debate on the need for this important piece of legislation specifically criminalising a barbaric practice which has destroyed the lives of so many girls and women worldwide,” said Bacik said.
Speaking after the Seanad debate, AdiDwA’s national director Salome Mbugua said the organisation has been working for many years on the issue of FGM.
“We want clear legislation to criminalise FGM in Ireland,” she said, adding that AdkiDwA welcomes the proposal for new legislation.
Amnesty International also welcomed the move. “FGM is a violation of fundamental human rights including the right to be free from torture,” said Colm Gorman, executive director of Amnesty’s Ireland section. “It is an act of violence, designed to control and dominate young girls simply because of their gender.”
Gorman said he looks forward to working with Minister Harney to ensure the proposed legislation is as strong as possible.
