BLOGS
10 year old Somali girl dies after undergoing FGM
Her father believes she was “taken by Allah” (Courtesy)
SOMALIA—Doctors in central Somalia say a 10-year-old girl has died after undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM).
Director of Hanano hospital in Dhusamareb, Dr. Abdirahman Omar Hassan, who was on the response team who tried to save the girl said that the victim bled to death after undergoing FGM.
“She was brought in during the early evening, we all rushed to the emergency [room] when we learned her situation, she died because she was losing lots of blood,” said Hassan.
About 98 percent of women and girls in the Horn of Africa nation undergo female genital mutilation, according to the United Nations. While Somalia’s constitution prohibits the practice, pressure from conservative and religious groups prevents lawmakers from passing legislation to punish offenders.
Health workers have warned against the risks of the practice which in most cases the external genitalia is removed and the vagina is sewn almost closed.
The girl’s father Dahir Nur said he was distraught but accepts that his daughter died due to the procedure and believes she was “taken by Allah”.
“The people in the area are content with it [FGM], her mother consented to it,” he said, adding, “We have seen the effects but it’s a culture in the country we live in.”
News of the fatal procedure emerged as Somali activists and international partners are meeting in Mogadishu to discuss increasing campaigns against FGM.
Somali anti-FGM activist Ifrah Ahmed appealed to religious leaders to do more to convince the community to end the practice.
“The religious leaders can inform the community about what the religion says about FGM, that this is not religious, it’s a culture,” she said.
Over 200 million women and girls in 30 countries across three continents have experienced genital mutilation, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier this year, calling it a “gross violation of the human rights of women and girls.”
