3,780 FGM HORROR
Organisation warns barbaric practice on rise
ALMOST 4,000 females living in Ireland have undergone female genital mutilation since 2011, World Vision Ireland said.
The organisation estimates 3,780 girls have suffered the barbaric procedure in the past eight years – with 1,632 at high risk.
It is warning the practice is on the rise here despite the fact it is a criminal offence under legislation introduced in 2012.
The figures emerged as a married couple were found guilty at Dublin
Circuit Criminal Court on Thursday of the FGM of their one-year-old daughter.
The man, 37, and a 27-year-old woman, originally from an African nation, had claimed the infant sustained the injury when she fell on a toy.
Gardai suspect the mutilation was carried out by a so-called “witch doctor” – an older woman known to the couple who fled the country before she could be quizzed. World Vision Ireland spokeswoman Fiona O’malley told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “FGM has absolutely no health benefits to women or children.
“Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.
“FGM is a complete violation of a girl or woman’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.
“The practice is internationally recognised as a human rights violation of women and girls.”
Ms O’malley warned the true figure for FGM in Ireland could be a lot higher than 3,780 because families go abroad to undergo the dangerous procedure. She said: “It’s quite difficult to know exactly how many women in Ireland have undergone FGM because girls are removed from the State, usually by their parents, to have it done.
“The Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2012 makes it a criminal offence to remove a girl from the State to mutilate her genitals.”
The couple convicted on Thursday were remanded in custody by Judge Elma Sheahan for sentencing on December 20.