The “brutal” sub-Saharan ritual of female genital mutilation should be criminalised in the light of evolving migration, according to the Malta Midwives Association.
“Officially female genital mutilation is not practised in Malta, but midwives are now being more frequently called upon to assist women who have undergone FGM,” the association said.
MMA has issued a position statement urging the Government to create the framework that makes FGM, and the provision of any assistance in this barbaric practice, illegal.
With more asylum seekers reaching the island the practice is increasingly coming to the attention of medics; paediatric surgeon and Labour MP Chris Fearne said obstetricians came across an average of two women a month with FGM.
Mr Fearne is putting this issue on the national agenda and in early October he will table a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament.
Female genital mutilation is a destructive operation where the female genitals are partly or entirely removed or injured to inhibit sexual feelings.
The prevailing wisdom in countries such as Somalia and Eritrea, where it is widely practised, is that a woman is considered dirty, oversexed and unmarriageable unless the clitoris and labia are completely removed – without any form of anaesthetic.
Most often the mutilation is performed before puberty, often on girls between the age of four and eight. Some are left with just a matchstick-sized opening for urine and menstrual blood.
Every 10 seconds a young girl somewhere in the world becomes the victim of female genital mutilation, according to the global democracy organisation Inter-Parliamentary Union.
In the EU, 500,000 girls are affected or threatened by FGM.
Activist and supermodel Waris Dirie – a UN special ambassador campaigning to eradicate this horrific form of mutilation she herself endured – is piling pressure on the EU to classify FGM as a crime because African migrants who settled in Europe tended to continue practising it.
The Private Member’s Bill is the first step towards this as Mr Fearne said he had spoken to social workers who were approached by African women seeking advice on taking their daughters abroad to be mutilated.
However, Mr Fearne, who is in the process of meeting NGOs and people in the field, stressed that while women who had FGM sometimes faced peer pressure to put their girls through the same ritual, practically all of them were against it.
Every 10 seconds a young girl somewhere in the world becomes the victim of female genital mutilation
“The most important part of this Bill is to send a clear message that this ritual is not welcome nor allowed in Malta; it has to be punished by law,” he said, adding the Bill was also intended to protect Maltese girls born in a family with an African parent.
Condemning FGM as a violation of human dignity, MMA is appealing to the Government to offer specialised training to local health professionals.
It urged midwives to be informed about the immense suffering genitally mutilated women experienced when attempting to conceive and give birth, as well as its health consequences.
MMA also called on the Government to provide targeted services, including translation, cultural mediation and counselling to the women who had FGM.
“These victims need to be helped to come to terms with their condition, otherwise they risk being ostracised.”