Who will protect our girls?

AS A young girl Consolee Nishimwe experienced the worst form of violence any girl barely in her teens could possibly face. At the height of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, machete-wielding rebels were targeting families like hers, forcing them to move from place to place under cover of night.

It was during this time that one of her neighbours grabbed and raped her repeatedly. Soon the rebels caught up with the family and killed her father and brothers, forcing Consolee to flee her country.

Now in her 30s and living in the United States, Consolee has recounted her experience in a book, “Tested to the Limit: A Genocide Survivor’s Story of Pain, Resilience and Hope”. She is often invited to public forums to speak against gender-based violence.

Consolee’s experience reflects the tragedy faced by thousands of girls during the Rwanda genocide and in other African countries in conflict, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. As in many parts of the world, during times of civil unrest, rape quickly becomes a weapon of war.

Worldwide, seven out of 10 women face physical or sexual violence at least once during their lifetime, according to UN Women, the global agency responsible for advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Harmful practice

Yet, rape is just but one of many acts of violence or harmful cultural practices that girls in Africa continue to face. Others include female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced early marriages.

Despite years of advocacy against FGM, it is still performed on thousands of girls and many more are being forced to become child brides, at times when the girls are as young as nine. Combined, these practices produce dangerous reproductive health issues such as teen pregnancies, abortions, fistula or even child and maternal deaths.

In countries like Somalia, for instance, up to 98 percent of all girls between the ages of five and 15 undergo FGM, a practice in which parts of their genitalia are excised and the torn flesh sewn up for non-medical reasons by untrained traditional practitioners, usually elderly women using unsterilised instruments such as razor blades.

Medical experts warn that FGM can lead to long-term mental and physical problems, which may include possibly fatal septic shock, haemorrhage and blood poisoning, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

Long-term effects of FGM include urinary incontinence, painful sexual intercourse and complications during and after childbirth. Both mother and foetus could die at birth; mothers who survive may go on to suffer debilitating post-natal complications.

Countries with high FGM prevalence tend to have maternal mortality ratios of 550 per 100 000 live births. In South Africa, where FGM is outlawed under the Children’s Act, maternal mortality ratio is 300 per 100 000 live births.

According to UNICEF, maternal mortality, referring to deaths due to complications from pregnancy or childbirth, has declined by 44 percent — from 385 deaths to 216 deaths per 100 000 live births — in the period from 1990 to 2015, for an annual rate of reduction of 2,3 percent.

While impressive, this was less than half the 5,5 percent annual rate needed to achieve the three-quarters reduction in maternal mortality under the Millennium Development Goals.

Even as women’s rights advocates continue to call for a total ban on the harmful practice worldwide, some Africans in the Diaspora reportedly still ship their girls back home to undergo the procedure.

The BBC reported in July 2015 that about 50 such girls based in the United Kingdom had been whisked to Somalia to undergo FGM.

Given its harmful effects, why is FGM still practised in Africa? The World Health Organisation (WHO) blames it on socio-cultural, psychosexual, religious and hygienic beliefs, including the social pressure to conform as well as to ensure a girl’s eligibility for marriage. - Africa Renewal

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