sexual health and human rights in the african region - The ICHRP

at the lower end of the scale, but, nonetheless, still exhibiting substantial levels of
female genital mutilation. Cameroon (1.4%) and Uganda (0.6%) have the least
prevalence. It does not follow, of course, that the practice is absent in the other
countries as migration can export the practice to countries that have not
historically practised it. Indeed, migration explains why countries that have not
historically practised female genital mutilation also need to institute legal human
rights responses, especially if they are a country of destination for immigrants
that practice female genital mutilation.
[82] Cultures that practice female genital mutilation justify it on many social
grounds. 675 Perhaps the strongest reasons are that female genital mutilation is a
rite of passage marking the coming of age of a girl and rendering her
marriageable in the future. A girl who is not circumcised can become an outcast.
She will be unmarriageable as men belonging to that culture will refuse either to
marry or pay dowry for a woman who has not gone through female genital
mutilation. In some cultures, female genital mutilation is also conflated with
religion and understood to be a religious requirement that is divinely
sanctioned. 676
[83] The adverse health effects of female genital mutilation have been well
documented and are substantial. The procedure has both immediate as well as
long-term adverse effects. The adverse effects depend on the nature of the
procedure and the conditions under which it is performed. The more invasive
the procedure, the more severe are the adverse effects. As can be expected, Type
3 exacts the most severe adverse effects on account of being the most invasive
type of female genital mutilation. Also, the tendency to perform female genital
mutilation under unhygienic conditions using crude instruments exacerbates the
adverse effects of a procedure that is already harmful on its own. In terms of
immediate adverse effects, the procedure can cause haemorrhage, infection of the
cut tissue and adjacent tissue, infection of the entire body (septicaemia). These
effects can be followed by pelvic infection, abscesses and hardening of scarred
tissue. Long-term complications are closure of the vagina opening due to
scarring, infertility due to pelvic infections, painful menstruation and painful
micturation (difficulty in passing urine). Female genital mutilation can also
complicate labour leading to prolonged and obstructed labour, which in turn can
675 Corrine Packer treats the reasons given for female genital mutilations as falling into four main
categories: 1) health and hygiene such as a belief that female genital mutilation is necessary for female
genital hygiene and that a woman who had not undergone the practice is considered as dirty and
polluted; 2) physical necessity such as a belief that the practice improves genital aesthetics, improves
male sexual performance and preserves virginity before marriage; 3) social necessity where female genital
mutilation is a rite of passage without which a girl is unmarriageable or not easily marriageable within
the culture; and 4) religious necessity among communities that believe that the practice is divinely
sanctioned: Packer supra at 20-22.
676
190