Dangers of female circumcision underlined

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is becoming one of the most serious health issues affecting women and is helping to spread HIV/AIDS, according to the international lobby group, Inter-African Committee (IAC). Traditional harmful practices are also being exported around the world with migrant populations, the organisation said during a three-day workshop in Addis Ababa which ends on Thursday. IAC president Berhane Ras-Work expressed concern over the scale of the problem in Africa. She said FGM, which has been practised for hundreds of years in Africa, is now becoming a major mode of transmission for HIV/AIDS. Untrained women – known as excisors - often perform the brutal cutting on children leaving them scarred for life. Some will use exactly the same knife for all the excisions - regardless of the dangers of spreading infections. Speaking at the IAC executive meeting held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Berhane said the organisation was working in 26 African countries to eradicate the problem. "In Europe and the United States, the eradication of FGM is more and more accepted as a responsibility of the international community," she said. Four out of five women in Ethiopia aged between 15 and 49 are believed to have been circumcised. The IAC – which works on behalf of women and children – has been working in the field of FGM and combating harmful traditional practices for the last 16 years. Berhane said more work should be done on an international level to raise awareness of the problem. But she praised efforts being made by bodies such as the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to fight the problem. The IAC says the key to stopping FGM and other harmful practices against women is through education and equality. Barbara Prammer, former prime minister and Member of Parliament in Austria, said allowing women to make decisions that affect their future was crucial in preventing FGM. She said if it could be prevented in Africa the problem would not spread to other countries. Prammer, who represents the IAC in Europe, added that the fight against harmful practices against women was now getting an international foothold. "We the women of the north, have a big role to play in the fight against violence towards women," she said. "In the last three decades a lot has been tried and accomplished in the field of preventing and eliminating harmful traditions." In Europe, where FGM is carried out within the immigrant population, laws have been passed to try and ban it. Offenders can be jailed for five years in Austria, Prammer said. She said the solution to preventing FGM and other harmful practices was by changing the values, attitudes and behaviour of society. "This in turn requires education, information, sensitisation and most of all the empowerment of women," she added.