Female genital mutilation in spotlight

Tackling female genital mutilation (FGM) should be made a global priority like HIV/AIDs, according to campaigners concerned about growing evidence that the abusive practice was more widespread than first thought.

The ancient ritual, involving the partial or total removal of external genitalia, can cause severe health problems.

No one knows how many girls bleed to death or die later in life from related childbirth complications.

Some 200 million girls and women are impacted by FGM worldwide, according to UN data, but some activists said this was a “massive underestimate” as it ignored the true geographic spread of FGM and omitted children and older women.

The UN estimate is based on data from 30 countries, almost all in Africa, while campaigners at the Women Deliver conference in Canada said there were studies or anecdotal evidence showing FGM happened in more than 30 other countries.

“We’re learning every day that there are more pockets where this is happening,” said Shelby Quast, the Americas director at women’s rights group Equality Now.

“Wherever there’s real pockets of conservatism, of patriarchy, we’re starting to see that this is yet another form of controlling women’s bodies and controlling women.”

Countries not taken into account in the UN data included Georgia, Russia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Iran, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

Earlier this year a woman from a strict white American Christian community in the state of Kentucky created a stir when told how she had undergone FGM as a child.

The story provoked a backlash from some Christians, but Quast said similar cases had come to light.

Some campaigners were also surprised by a medical study released at the weekend showing FGM was practiced in Saudi Arabia – not a country traditionally linked with the ritual.

“We know it happens on every continent, but what we don’t have is good data,” Quast said. “If you can’t count it, it’s very hard to get funding to end it.”