140 million women and children worldwide have suffered female genital cutting*
By 1997 the whole of Australia had outlawed female circumcision making it illegal to perform “any medical or surgical procedure or mutilation of the vagina or clitoris of any person” for reasons of “culture, religion, custom or practice”.
However with the growing number of people arriving from countries such as Africa, Asia and the Middle East and combined religious and cultural traditions, there has been a rise in the number of illegal female genital cutting.
“This is child abuse, it doesn’t matter whether it is cultural or not, it is against the law and there is one law for all Australians,” Pru Goward, former Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner said.
“There is anecdotal evidence that it is occurring… and when I said to them (doctors) why aren’t they reporting them it was because they feel it wouldn’t stand up in court. Doctors are anxious about taking on the family because the family will often just say the ‘young girl slipped on some glass'” she said.
Even though in Australia this practice is considered by many to be a form of genital mutilation, The Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) are willing to discuss the possibility of introducing “ritual nicks”.
In June the RANZCOG will discuss this matter at their Women’s Health meeting.
RANZCOG secretary Gino Pecoraro said: “If a nick could meet the cultural needs of a particular woman, then it might save her from going through what can really be drastic surgery. But we need to make sure we do not legitimise the ritualistic maiming of children.”
“It can progress to an extreme form that actually removes the clitoris and the labia and sews the opening of the vagina closed,” Dr Peccararo said.
“No-one is condoning the practice. No-one is trying to legitimise the practice. They are trying to look at a way to minimise the harm,” he said.
The issue of female cutting has polarized the community; some in the medical world feel that if a minor form of circumcism were legally allowed then it would protect girls from being subjected to the procedure by people without a formal medical background and in unsanitary conditions.
Others like Ms Goward firmly believe that ‘female nicking’ of any kind is female mutilation and abuse and under no circumstances should be allowed in any form, no matter how ‘mild’.
Ms Goward said “the first thing that should happen is that the Federal Government, which is after all responsible for our immigration program, launches a huge public education campaign particularly in those communities and particularly when it is processing people for migration to Australia”.
“If you don’t start education, if you don’t start prosecuting – because we all know anecdotally that these children are turning up in hospitals with ruptured bladders and urethra – that this will continue,” she said.
“But the answer is not to allow a modified form of it if you haven’t tried stopping it by public education and awareness and prosecution.”
Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner for the Australian Human Rights Commission also agreed “I disagree with the suggestion by the RANZCOG that we should, for any reason, entertain a practice of “ritual nicks” in a sterile environment.
“In my opinion female genital mutilation or female circumcision, whatever you want to call it, is violence against women, often against children and young women.”
Even within the RANZCOG there is disagreement with Digby Ngan Kee, of Palmerston North, Vice President of RANZCOG and a member of it’s women’s health committee saying that Dr Pecoraro’s comments were not the official position of the college. He added “We remain opposed to female genital mutilation”.
The RANZCOG President, Dr Ted Weaver has confirmed “The College is not considering any support for this procedure on baby girls in Australia, and the assumption that the College is going to change its position on female genital mutilation is wrong. The College remains opposed to all forms of female genital mutilation”.
* according to the World Health Organisation.
Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: ABC News. The Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
I personally believe the practice of circumcision of females or males who are too young to understand or who do not choose and/or who have not been properly informed of the procedure and its consequences (good and bad) is abominable.
I would like to know what is a ‘nick’ and ‘female nicking’ is and why would it be necessary?
I would also like to know the real reasons female circumcision is performed from a cultural point of view.
I feel that if after appropriate education of the immigration/cultural population who condone the practice cannot agree to cease it, please leave the country, AND make sure to take the education with you and share it.
I also disagree with the practice of circumcision on either females or males. It is unnecessary and barbaric.
Bottom line is ‘female nicking’ of any kind is female mutilation and abuse’ and should NOT under any circumstance be allowed in any form, no matter how ‘mild’. It is used to supposedly remove any pleasure the female would enjoy during sex, therefore it is solely aimed at removing a woman’s right to any sexual pleasure or enjoyment. What part of ‘female genital mutilation’ do doctors and ‘experts’ not understand? It IS ‘violence against women, against children and young women’. Ask a man who was not circumcised at birth, but who ‘chose’ to undergo circumcision later in life and he will tell you there IS a difference in sensation. But for females, this barbaric practice is NOT necessary for ANY assumed or legitimised health issue. It IS solely a barbaric, immoral and medieval practice perpetrated by men for control of/over women!
I agree it should remain illegal, but why don’t we therefore also ban labioplasty and other forms of female genital alteration conducted in Western countries on young women by greedy plastic surgeons for no reason other than a perceived commercial “aesthetic”?
Email sent to Pru Gowerd and to Liz Broderick:
It was good to hear you speaking out yesterday on ABC news and AM against the proposal from the secretary of the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Dr Gino Peccararo, that the College is considering whether to support a less extreme version of female circumcision.
I have been contacted by a member of the National Council of Women (Joan Elliston) and a member of PPSEAWA (Heather Sulerczyski) to ask what action can be taken to add their voices of opposition to these suggestion.
UNIFEM Australia supports the statement on the UNIFEM website, quoting the Joint Response by UN Agencies to a Policy Statement on Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors from the American Academy of Pediatrics By WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNIFEM, dated 20 May 2010, which states:
“The United Nations are united in the effort to support the abandonment of FGM which, according to current estimates, is performed on some three million girls in Africa alone as well as on girls in immigrant communities, including in the United States. We are concerned that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “Policy statement – Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors” published on 26 April 2010 as well as the version published online on 1 May 2010 contain statements that could weaken the efforts to eliminate the practice. Of particular concern is the suggestion that some forms of FGM are not harmful and can be supported and performed by medical personnel.”
We will continue to speak out strongly against any such proposals, and will also be writing to Dr Peccararo.
Thank you again for your actions,
Kind regards
Sue Conde
NSW has recognised that the practice of female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a violation of human rights and a practice which has grave health effects. The NSW Crimes (Female Genital Mutilation) Amendment Act 1994 prohibits the practice of FGM. Under the Act, which is a person who “excises, infibulates or otherwise mutilates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person” or “aids, abets, counsels and procures a person to perform any of those acts on another person is liable to penal servitude for 7 years”.
The NSW Education Program on Female Genital Mutilation (NSW FGM) has been running in Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) since 1997. NSW FGM is a statewide program that provides education, information and support to women, girls and their families living in NSW who have been affected by FGM as well as to health staff. Funding is provided to deliver a program that includes professional and allied health education, community education and development and resource development.