RIGHTS-BENIN: Groups Welcome New Law Banning Female Genital Mutilation

By Ali Idrissou-Toure Reprint | | Print |

Ali Idrissou-Toure

COTONOU, Jan 29 2003 (IPS) - Rights groups have welcomed a new law, banning all forms of female genital mutilation in Benin.

”I am pleased with the passage of the law, because, of all the countries in the sub-region, Benin was the last to outlaw female genital mutilation,” says Genevieve Boko Nadjo, president of WILDAF-Benin, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dealing with women issues.

Nadjo says the new law should be ”accepted as the first step – to fill a legal void in Benin, where female genital mutilation was not even considered to be a crime”.

The law, which was passed by parliament on Jan 21, prohibits ”All forms of female genital mutilation”.

Under the law, an offender, who removes women genitalia, is handed a prison term of between six months and three years, and a fine of between one and two million CFA francs (about 1,613 and 3,226 U.S. dollars). When the crime is against a minor under 18 years of age, the punishment is increased from three to five years of prison, and a fine as high as three million CFA (about 4,839 U.S. dollars).

If the victim died in the process of circumcision, the perpetrator gets between five and ten years in prison, and fines of up to six million CFA (about 9,678 U.S. dollars).

Legislator Alassane Zoumarou, who sponsored the bill, says ”female genital mutilation is one of the old socio-cultural practices of our country ”.

There are generally three different types of circumcision: clitoridectomy, the amputation of the clitoris; excision of the labia minora as well as the clitoris; and infibulation, the removal all external genitalia including the labia majora, after which the edges of the wound are stitched together, allowing for only a tiny opening.

Female genital mutilation causes haemorrhages or infections such as tetanus and HIV/AIDS transmission, medical doctors say.

Marie Elise Gbedo, vice president of the Association of Women Jurists of Benin, says the tiny West African country, with a population of about 6.4 million, ”has just taken a major step to combat a sensitive problem, where habits are the product of tradition.”

Gbedo believes ”awareness campaigns by government and civil society are necessary since the new law concerns women’s reproductive health”.

During a campaign against sexual harassment in a school in Kalale, northeast Benin, in December, Nadjo says she discovered that mothers allow their daughters to be sent away to little villages, on the border with Nigeria, to be circumcised. ”Once they are isolated, the girls are excised and remain in those little remote villages until their wounds have completely healed before they return home,” she says.

”Another consequence is that, since the methods are not sterile, healing takes time and the girls lose the rest of their school year,” explains Nadjo.

Rights groups say some 200 girls selected for circumcision in Tanguieta, northeast Benin, last year were also sent to remote villages. But, just before the ceremony, WILDAF-Benin alerted the public through the local press, causing a wave of an uproar.

Victorine Odounlami, president of the Inter-African Committee Against Traditional Practices Impacting the Health of Women and Children, says ” after fighting this harmful practice for several years, the vote on this law comes just at the right time”.

For her, the fight is not yet over, as her group is planning a series of awareness campaigns across Benin.

”Education is important before enforcing the new law,” she says.

Female genital mutilation is a problem, which affects over 100 million women around the world. The practice is done for reasons, which include religion and economics on girls in various parts of Africa and the Middle East.

In Africa, female genital mutilation is practiced in the majority of the continent including Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mozambique, and Sudan.