• 12 years Little Petty and the lives that female genital mutilation still claims
  • Egypt: Religious authority enacts a fatwa against female genital mutilation
  • Female Genital Mutilation: The Cultural Evolution of Ablation

He told them he was going to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and they underwent female genital mutilation . The Egyptian Public Prosecutor's Office has brought to trial the father and the doctor who performed the ablation of three minors in the country, in the umpteenth case of a practice prohibited twelve years ago that continues to claim victims.

According to the statement, the father convinced his ex-wife to take the daughters - all minors - to a clinic with the purpose of immunizing them against Covid-19 despite the fact that the virus, first detected last December in China, with 5.4 million infections and around 350,000 deaths worldwide, still lacks a vaccine.

Once in the medical facilities, the doctor proceeded to practice the mutilation. A forensic authority has confirmed that the three suffered the intervention, illegal since 2008 in the Arab country . The father and the doctor have been sent to a criminal court. The ban, included in the Penal Code and the child protection law, was amended in 2016 to increase prison terms. Under the reform, the parent and healthcare professional face between five and seven years in prison .

"I am happy to hear that there are more cases going to court and that the justice system is taking very positive steps towards the criminalization of female genital mutilation," Suad Abu Dayyeh , researcher for the Equality Now organization who has been fighting for years , told EL MUNDO for eradicating the practice in the Middle East. "That said, I am sorry that there are still people practicing mutilation," admits who seven years ago managed to bring the death of 13-year-old Soheir to court as a result of the ablation.

That was the first case that broke into the judiciary - the doctor was tried and sentenced to two years and three months in prison - and it paved a way for other tragedies to continue. Earlier this year, another girl, Nada Hasan, 12, died after undergoing an ablation disguised as "plastic surgery" and without anesthesia . Days after being arrested, the doctor who signed the operation was released on bail of 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about 2,700 euros).

His death, bled to death after the ablation, raised a wave of outrage in the most populous country in the Arab world, which leads the world ranking of the population subjected to mutilation ahead of Ethiopia, Nigeria or Indonesia. One in five mutilates resides in the land of the pharaohs, according to Unicef. In February Dar el Ifta - an official body responsible for publishing religious edicts - again insisted that mutilation is prohibited under Islamic law .

Awareness campaigns have begun to bear timid fruit. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, the rate of adolescents between 15 and 17 years of age who have undergone ablation fell from 74 percent in 2008 to 61 percent in 2014. The practice, common among Egyptian Muslims and Christians, remains widespread in rural settings and has undergone alarming medicalization . Eight out of ten operations are carried out by professionals in the health sector.

"A violation of human rights"

The advocates of mutilation claim that it is a religious practice that reduces the libido of women, preserves their virginity until marriage and eliminates any temptation to adultery. The UN recalls that mutilation "is a violation of human rights and constitutes a form of violence against women."

A report written by an international network against female genital mutilation, published last March, revealed that the practice is carried out in at least 92 countries . The document warns that the cases are not only set on the African continent, but also in Asia, Europe and America.

Only 55 percent of the countries in which cases have been detected have legislation that prohibits ablation, leaving millions of women without adequate legal protection and keeping away the challenge of their final eradication. "I wish I could see a world without female genital mutilation," says Suad.

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