Nearly 200,000 girls in the European Union are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) and the bloc must initiate a broad, coordinated action plan to combat the issue, Amnesty International campaigners say.
FGM, a traditional practice in which all or parts of the external female genitalia are removed, is found in 28 African countries, pockets of the Middle East and Asia, as well as Western countries with immigrant populations.
The European Union is home to an estimated 500,000 victims of FGM. In addition, an estimated 180,000 girls are at risk of FGM each year, according to the European Parliament.
Girls with origins in countries where FGM is widespread, such as Mali, Sudan, Somalia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, are thought to be particularly vulnerable. The practice is often viewed as a prerequisite to marriage. Many also believe it is a religious requirement.
“In Somalia (FGM) is a normal thing happening to girls every day,” FGM activist Ifrah Ahmed told Reuters. “It is something you are looking forward to when you are a child.”
Ahmed, 24, was cut in her home country of Somalia, but moved to Ireland in 2006.
The European Commission, together with the EU’s gender equality agency, will next week release a study about the situation of FGM in the 27 member states and Croatia, which joins the European Union this year.
Up to 140 million girls and women worldwide are thought to have undergone FGM. The practice can cause serious physical and psychological damage, including severe pain and bleeding, chronic infections, decreased sexual enjoyment and difficulties in childbirth. In some cases the procedure can be fatal.
Amnesty International Ireland has launched the END FGM European campaign, in partnership with organisations in EU member states, to push for a broad action plan at the EU level.
“Beyond legislation, this plan should bring together all the actors in fields of asylum, health care and child protection and equip them to protect girls and women from FGM,” campaign director Christine Loudes said. “This plan needs to be ambitious, well resourced and involve FGM affected communities.”
Amnesty expects to publish a document later this year to outline possible measures.
FGM is illegal in Britain and many other European countries like France and the Netherlands.
In December, the United Nations passed a landmark resolution calling on all nations to ban female genital mutilation.