The death of an 11-year-old girl has prompted Egypt to step up its fight against an age-old practice …
Budour Ahmed Shaker, an 11-year-old Egyptian girl, died last week in the southern province of Minyaan from complications due to genital cutting done at a private clinic. Although she is not the first to die from this practice, her death prompted the Egyptian government to further outlaw genital circumcision by eliminating a legal loophole which allowed girls to undergo the procedure “in situations of illness,” if advised by a doctor. The health minister, Hatem al-Gabali now considers the practice of clitoridectomy completely banned. Any circumcision “will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished,” a ministry official said.(aljazeera.net)
This new legislation follows a 1996 ministerial decree which prohibited female circumcision from being done in hospitals. The decree at the time, resulted in procedures moving from hygienic and public hospitals either to private clinics or completely outside of clinical circumstances. Operations have been carried out by midwives, barbers and relatives, causing complications such as severe blood loss, infections, urinary complications and long-term anemia. Usually performed on girls aged 7 to 12, the practice also leads to psychological trauma and the inability to enjoy sexual intercourse.
A 2005 UNICEF survey of Egyptian women found that 96 percent of those married, aged 15 to 49, had undergone female circumcision, the practice of cutting off part or all of the female clitoris and sometimes other female genitalia, also commonly known as female genital mutilation. The practice remains widespread as a rite of passage for girls. It is seen as a way to protect their chastity, and it is believed that uncircumcised women will have no chance at marriage. Neither the Qu’ran nor the Bible prescribes this practice. It is commonly performed on both Muslim and Christian girls in both Egypt and Sudan, but is rare in the rest of the Arab world and more widespread in African countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
These recent events have prompted a probe into Shaker’s death by the Egyptian doctor’s syndicate, a work suspension for the doctor who performed Shaker’s operation and public statements by religious leaders, such as Egypt’s state-appointed Grand Mufti and the Grand Sheikh of Cairo’s al-Azhar mosque, denouncing the practice as un-Islamic and forbidden. Another component to Egypt’s anti-female-circumcision campaign includes airing television programs encouraging parents to give up this ancient practice.
This article was published Monday, July 2, 2007.
