ActionAid Ireland estimates that up to 2,639 girls living in Ireland today are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The cultural practice involves removing all or part of a girl’s external genitalia and is usually performed on girls aged between four and ten. According to WHO, this has happened to more than 200 million girls and women alive today.
Dr Caroline Munyi, spokesperson for ActionAid Ireland says there are thousands of girls affected by FGM in Ireland,
“We know that FGM is happening here in Ireland, there is one case currently under investigation by An Garda Siochána. Anecdotally we know that girls are being taken out of Ireland for the procedure.”
Performing FGM on someone has been a criminal offence in Ireland since 2012. The Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2012 also makes it a criminal offence for someone in Ireland to take a girl out of the country to undergo the procedure.
“There is never a medical need for FGM, and there are many serious immediate and long-term effects from the procedure from infections, urinary problems, and haemorrhaging. It can also cause death in women and babies as a consequence of complications of childbirth in countries where it is practised.”
Since 2016, ActionAid Ireland has been working with AkiDwA to tackle FGM in Ireland. The organisations provide girls and women vulnerable to or affected by FGM with information on protecting themselves from the practice.
Figures from the last census indicated that an estimated 5,790 women and girls living in Ireland have been subjected to FGM, compared with about 3,780 in 2013, which is a 53 percent increase.
(Participants at the ActionAid workshop)
ActionAid’s study of organisations working with migrant communities indicated a low level of awareness of the issue, with no information or budgets available to deal with the issue.
ActionAid Ireland carried out a pilot project in Cork which recently ended. Cork was chosen for the project because it is the second most populated city after Dublin. ActionAid Ireland’s research revealed that there are almost 1,260 women and girls living in Cork who are from countries where FGM is practised.
The project used a specialist approach to educate and empower women, girls and men to reject the harmful practice. ActionAid worked with migrant women, men and girls living in three direct provision centres in Cork city.
Dr Caroline Munyi, who led the project, says:
“By the end of the project participants reported to have changed their opinion of what they had previously regarded as a routine, normalised practice, and now have the tools and confidence to reject the practice.”
(Minister David Stanton, Dr Caroline Munyi and a workshop participant.)
One of the girls who took part in the education and awareness programme says taking part allowed her to become more aware of the cultural conditioning connected to FGM,
“We teach girls shame. Close your legs. Cover yourself. We make them feel as though by being born female, they are already guilty of something. And so girls grow up to be women who cannot say they have desire. Who silence themselves. Who cannot say what they truly think.”
WHO report that the reasons for FGM are broad. It is not a religious practice but a cultural one, though some religious leaders are in support of it, many are not. It is seen as a cultural norm and “a necessary part of raising a girl”.
FGM is associated with “cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are clean and beautiful after removal of body parts that are considered unclean, unfeminine or male.”
Currently, the only free service available for girls and women who have had FGM performed on them is in Dublin. In 2014 the Irish Family Planning Association set up a free, specialised medical care and counselling service specifically for women and girls in Ireland who have experienced FGM. There are no services for girls and women outside of Dublin.
With so many girls at risk and affected ActionAid Ireland are calling on the Government to adopt and implement the actions outlined in the National Action Plan.
The organisation says:
“This would be a ‘significant step towards ensuring that relevant national authorities participate in best practices on effectively combating all forms of violence against women and girls, including FGM”.
If you would like more information on FGM or know someone affected, contact the Irish Family Planning Association and/or ActionAidIreland
