Somali father defends FGM after his 10-year-old daughter died of blood loss

ADADO (Somalia) – A Somali father has defended female genital mutilation (FGM) after his 10-year-old daughter died following a botched operation.

Dahir Nur’s daughter died after losing blood when the cutter damaged a vein and contracting tetanus because the tools which had been used on her had reportedly not been sterilised.

But Mr. Nur said people in Somalia were ‘content’ with the practice, which is widespread in the country.

‘Her mother consented to it. We have seen the effects but it’s a culture in the country we live in,’ he told Voice of America.

Doctors in the town of Dhusamareb said the girl had been brought to a hospital after undergoing the procedure in a village 25 miles away.

They said the girl had been ‘mutilated’ with the clitoris cut and the vulva seriously wounded, causing serious blood loss from which she died.

‘The circumciser is suspected to have cut an important vein in the course of the operation,’ said Hawa Aden Mohamed, director of the Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development, a local women’s rights group.

‘The woman who performed the operation has not been arrested but even if she was, there is no law that would ensure she is punished for the act.

‘This is just one among many cases happening on a daily basis across Somalia.’

One of the doctors said: ‘I never saw anyone who was mutilated like that in my life.’

An estimated 200 million girls and women worldwide have undergone FGM, which usually involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia and can cause a host of serious health problems, says the United Nations.

According to the UN, 98 percent of women between 15 and 49 have been subjected to the ritual in Somalia.

Somalia’s constitution prohibits FGM, but efforts to pass legislation to punish offenders have been stalled by parliamentarians afraid of losing powerful Muslim vote banks who support FGM and view it as a part of their tradition.

In the UK the practice has been illegal since 1985 but there have not yet been any successful prosecutions against it.

Daily Mail