On world anti-FGM day, Egypt still ranks among world’s top offenders

On the 12th annual International Day for Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Egypt still holds the dubious distinction of performing more FGM procedures than almost any other country.

The Ministry of Health officially outlawed the operation in 2007, and doctors found guilty of performing FGM can be sentenced from three months to two years in prison, with a maximum fine of LE5,000. But the operation is still performed on millions of Egyptians.

North African countries dominate the list of the 29 nations where FGM is most frequently performed. Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt report the highest numbers of these procedures.

Somalia has the highest percentage of FGM worldwide, with the procedure performed on roughly 98 percent of the female population, according to UNICEF statistics.

The same statistics show that FGM has been performed on around 91 percent of Egyptian women, or roughly 27 million individuals.

Hind Ahmed Zaki — a researcher on women's rights in Egypt and a PhD candidate at the University of Washington — clarified that somewhere between 75 percent to 90 percent of all Egyptian women have had FGM operations.

These numbers may have dipped slightly after FGM was criminalized in 2007, "yet it remains prevalent among both Muslims and Christians in Egypt,” Zaki told Mada Masr.

Zaki doesn’t think legislation has played much of a role in deterring the practice.

"With the exception of the historic court verdict issued last month [after the death of 13-year-old Soheir al-Batea], I don't see the law being implemented or enforced at all,” Zaki argued.

"I don't think the law has made a great impact on decreasing the incidence of FGM. Instead, increased education and awareness nationwide has resulted in decreasing the rate of FGM,” she added.

According to Zaki, a total of only three cases against FGM have ever been brought to Egyptian courts. The recent landmark verdict issued by a Mansoura court on January 26 was the first time an Egyptian doctor was found guilty under the 2007 law.

Raslan Fadl — the doctor who performed FGM on Batea last summer, causing her death due to an overdose of anesthesia — was sentenced to two years in prison and fined LE500. Her father was also given a suspended prison sentence for allowing the operation.

Zaki pointed out that "social norms and the complicity of parents — especially fathers and other patriarchal figures — leads to the perpetuation of FGM in Egypt."

"It's all about seeking to control women's sexuality, and misinformed attempts to limit the sex drive of their daughters. The operation is detrimental, life threatening and does not provide any health benefits whatsoever,” she argued.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "FGM harms girls and women in many ways,” both physiologically and psychologically, and can pose serious, long-lasting health risks — including infertility and even death.

"Concerted efforts by religious officials and state authorities, awareness-raising campaigns, NGO campaigns, parents’ increased consciousness of associated health concerns and the strict enforcement of the law pertaining to FGM" are all required in order to eradicate the practice in Egypt, Zaki argued.

She concluded, “The law will not be enforced unless society supports it.”