Survivor of female genital mutilation asks Ireland to take a prominent role
AN Irish-Somali survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM) has said she wants Ireland to lead the way in helping to eradicate the deadly practice.
Ifrah Ahmed (32) suffered FGM at the age of eight in her home country of Somalia.
She fled Mogadishu in 2006 before being smuggled to Ireland.
She was granted asylum and has since become an Irish citizen.
Ms Ahmed has become a global campaigner against gender-based violence and was one of the first Somali women to speak out against FGM.
It is estimated that 98pc of women in Somalia have suffered the mutilation.
She also founded the Ifrah Foundation.
The human-rights campaigner told the Irish Independent that she would continue to advocate against FGM as long as it still exists in the world.
“There was a time when I would give interviews and cry, because I thought of my pain. I felt that I shouldn’t be cut, and I shouldn’t have to go through all of these things. But I felt that if I kept crying, I would lose the ability to be a woman who can save other girls from cutting,” she said.
“How can I protect other girls if I am only seen as a victim? I don’t want to be a victim, I want to be a voice.”
The HSE has estimated that since 2011, about 3,780 women living in Ireland have undergone FGM.
Ms Ahmed said cutting girls was “a traditional practice and it’s something people are afraid to speak up about”.
“FGM can kill. For me, it is a trauma. I don’t want other young girls, especially young girls who are born in Ireland, to go through that,” she said.
She added that Covid-19 had also exacerbated the problem in countries like Somalia.
“We know that gender-based violence has increased around the world.
“FGM increased in countries where it is practised, especially Somalia. So many young girls are being cut,” she added.
“Because of Covid-19, there are no hospital facilities.
“And women cannot go to the hospital. So they allow the women to bleed at home and die. Young girls are more at risk in the last eight months, now that we have this crazy Covid-19 world.”
A Girl from Mogadishu, a film about Ms Ahmed’s life, was first released last year.
Award
It was the winner of the Cinema for Peace Women’s Empowerment Award at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival.
This week, the Ifrah Foundation held an online screening of the film.
Ms Ahmed said she hoped the film would help influence political leaders.
“I want people to see FGM how they see world hunger, HIV/Aids and Ebola. Because they are no different, FGM is a killer.
“It can kill you in minutes, or it can kill you slowly. It needs to be seen as its own problem and not in the little way that they talk about gender-based violence,” she said.
“I will stand, I will speak, I will be loud and crazy until I see that every young girl born in this world is free from FGM.
“Ireland is an amazing country.
“I want Ireland to take FGM as a way to lead, in the way that it’s started to lead on reproductive and sexual health.”