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Female Circumcision Still Rife in 61 Districts
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 03 July 2007 06:42
A government report contained in the Gucha District Strategic Plan for 2003-2010 says more than 90 per cent of girls aged below 14 undergo the ritual.It says though some major community organisations have intensified efforts to eradicate the custom, which is said to be practised in 60 other districts, many underage girls continue to be subjected to it secretly.
The main organisations involved in the war include the Ministry of Health, the District Social Development Office and Education offices, Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation, the Federation of Women's Groups, the Seventh Day Adventist and the Pentecostal Assemblies of God.
The Children's Act outlaws circumcision of girls, early marriage and other cultural practices that are likely to negatively affect the child.In Gucha, where 97 per cent of women aged between 15-19 years have been subjected to the operation, the organisations fighting the practice have started health and education campaigns on the harmful effects of the ritual.
They are also organising peer training and counselling and promoting alternative rites of passage. Health officials say the practice is a major cause of complications at child birth and the spread of HIV/AIDS.Parents and grandparents in Gucha and the neighbouring districts have been encouraging girls as young as four years to be circumcised.
A Federation of Women's Groups spokesperson said circumcising girls aged below 16 is assault. "It undermines any argument that FGM is a healthy surgery for the benefit of the girl child since persons below the age of 16 years are not competent in the law to give any consent".
