A Sudanese woman subjected to female genital mutilation at home has applied for international protection in Malta to ensure her three young daughters do not suffer the same fate if sent back.
The woman, who is being assisted by the law clinic of the University of Malta, fears that, if repatriated, her daughters will be subjected to the same treatment.
Lawyer Jeanise Dalli said when contacted that the woman had originally applied for international protection in Malta in 2007. Her first application was rejected and she was eventually granted temporary humanitarian protection which, however, is no longer valid.
“Today, this woman, who is married and has three young girls and three boys, is seeking to regularise her status in Malta.
“Considering that, if returned to Sudan, her young girls could suffer persecution by having FGM forced upon them without parental consent, as customary in Sudan, we have filed a subsequent application on behalf of the mother and her children on the basis of fear of FGM upon return,” Dalli said.
FGM, also known as infibulation, is a practice by which a young girl’s vaginal orifice is narrowed through a process of sewing together the two sides of the vulva.
The procedure can be fatal and complications are numerous: infections, extremely painful menstruation and psychological trauma.
In Malta, it is considered a crime to subject someone to the practice, whether this takes place inside the country or abroad.
The case came to light recently when Marika Podda Connor, a senior practice nurse specialised in promoting cultural competence, was speaking during a primary healthcare conference.
She said that Maltese healthcare workers are trying to stop three migrant girls from being sent back to their countries where they may be subject to FGM.
In her brief presentation – made during the Eleventh Biennial Primary Healthcare Conference – Podda Connor spoke about migrant healthcare in Malta.
“Migrants are not a homogenous group. They are individuals with a particular need and require a culturally sensitive healthcare system,” she said.
Podda Connor added that healthcare workers had to be aware of the living conditions of migrant patients since this often reflected the amount of support they had at home.
“I have come across cases of pregnant women living in a particular open centre who do not drink water in the evening for fear they would have to go to the bathroom at night,” she said.
“That would mean having to walk, in pitch darkness, through an area with single men lurking in the area.”
Podda Connor noted that, earlier this year, her team was involved in successfully stopping two girls from being sent back to their country where they would have been subjected to FGM.
The case was reported by Times of Malta in April when – in what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind – the court prevented two girls on holiday from being taken out of the island because they were likely to face female genital mutilation.
The children’s mother had applied for international protection as soon as the father brought the family over on holiday.
She had been facing substantial pressure from her husband’s family to get her young daughters ‘cut’ in Sudan.