BURKINA FASO: Circumcisers are operating on baby girls to evade law

OUAGADOUGOU, 19 May 2004 (IRIN) - An apparent decline in the number of circumcision operations carried out on young women in Burkina Faso masks a growing trend to circumcise younger and younger girls, according to a new survey by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Burkina based National Committee Against the Practice of Circumcision (CNLPE).

Sometimes baptism ceremonies are used as a cover for cutting out the clitoris it said, because the baby is expected to cry at the baptism anyway.

“Our problem today is the clandestine activities of the circumcisers who often use the baptism ceremonies of new-borns as an opportunity to excise,” said Antoine Sanou of CNLPE.

“During such ceremonies when new born cries nobody pays attention to it because it is normal that baby cries a lot and this is a good opportunity to operate,” explained Sanou.

A survey conducted by WHO and CNLPE found that 70.2% of circumcisions were carried out on young girls in Burkina Faso under the age of seven, because these were harder for the authorities to detect.

“In order to avoid the law, the circumcisers have been smart enough to substitute adolescents with little girls,” explained Hortense Palm, the permanent secretary of CNLPE.

The survey found that 43% of girls circumcised in Burkina Faso were forced to undergo the operation between the ages of five and 10. That compared with just 16% between the ages of 11 and 20.

“We are very concerned about the clandestine change made in the practice. There is a need to apply new strategies to eradicate the phenomenon,” Palm said.

Under pressure from human rights organisations and women’s groups, the government of Burkina Faso passed a law against the practice of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FMG), in 1996.

Under that law, anyone found to have carried out FGM on a woman is liable for a fine of US$ 300 to US$ 1,800. If the victim dies, the circumciser can be sentenced to a jail term of between five and 10 years.

Medical practitioners can be struck off for five years if they are found to have carried out FGM.

The practice involves the total or partial removal of the clitoris. The surrounding flesh may also be trimmed and sometimes the vagina is almost entirely sown up in a move known as infibulation.

The operation is often carried out with an unsterilised razor blade and can lead to major health problems, infections and pregnancy complications in later life.

A 16-year-old girl recently bled to death in Sanguie province, west of the capital Ouagadougou, after she was circumcised while was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her child was still born.

The girl's death led to the arrest of her the circumciser and her companion, who are currently in custody awaiting trail.

The CNLPE said entire communities must change their attitudes if FMG is to be wiped out.

“We are now encouraging the people to report all cases of circumcision and attempts at circumcision,” explained Sanou.

He said there were 14 “resistant” provinces in Burkina Faso, where the 13-year-old campaign against FGM was still meeting resistance.

In rural provinces like Nayala in the extreme west 36.7 percent of girls are still subjected to circumcision. In Boulgou in the east the figure is even higher at 55.4%.

This still marks a drop from the national average of 66.35% when the campaign against female circumcision began in 1996, but it compares unfavourably other Burkinabe provinces where the rate has dropped to just one or two percent over the same period.

FGM has traditionally been carried out across much of the Muslim West Africa, though it is not an Islamic practice and has no basis in the Koran as many parents who pay to have the operation carried out on their daughters mistakenly believe.

Campaigners against female circumcision point out that it is not carried out in Saudi Arabia or Iran, two of the world's most staunchly Muslim countries.

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All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004