Women lured into Female Genital Mutilation to qualify to attend ceremonies

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Men in Sebei sub region have been accused of aiding the increase of Female Genital Mutilation, a procedure that involves altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.

The practice recognized internationally as a human rights violation is reported to be increasing in the sub counties of Binyinyi in Kapchorwa, Ngenge and Beneti in Kween district, among others.

It is alleged that in these areas, men are luring women into accepting FGM to enable them qualify to attend cultural ceremonies like circumcision and traditional marriages. Uncircumcised women are considered unclean and therefore not welcome at any traditional ceremony.

Reports indicate that men are forced to hire circumcised women in order to attend the ceremonies as invited guests. This according to women is the reason many of them opt for FGM in order to save their marriages.

Felis Chelimo, a resident of Kamwaleche village in Binyinyi sub county told Uganda Radio Network that men are silently ordering their uncircumcised women to go in for the act. She explains that they connive with the surgeons and the mentors to carry out the practice mainly at night for the fear of being arrested.

Grace Chekwel, a victim of FGM says that there are increasing cases of FGM in her community and that the act is being done in bushes and cliffs at night.

Bena Arapata, the Binyinyi sub county Community Development Officer said that the cases are increasing in the parishes of Tukumo and Cheppyakameit. Arapata says that lately, surgeons have reduced the price of FGM from 50,000 to 20,000 in order to lure young girls aged between 20 and 30.

Pastor Aldrine Mawa, the Coordinator of Faith Based organizations in Sebei region says that FGM practice is against the will of God and Human dignity and that it has no divine significance.

Area Resident District Commissioner Denis Balwanirewa said that a number of victims who have been arrested by the police have pointed to their husbands as the reason they accepted to undergo circumcision.

Florida Chelimo, a legal officer in Uganda Human Rights Commission’s Soroti Regional Office blamed the increasing cases of FGM in Sebei on illiteracy. She observes a need for sensitization among communities to reject the practice since it was outlawed by the government and is considered an abuse of human rights across the globe.

However, Christopher Kusuro, a resident of Kisongii village in Binyinyi sub county says that on the contrary men have been at the forefront of fighting the practice.

Uganda banned the practice in 2009 with a law that imposed harsh penalties for participation in the practice of FGM. The law provides for a 10-year jail sentence for any person convicted of practicing FGM and life imprisonment for incidences that lead to death, disability or result in the victim’s infection with HIV/AIDS.

However, despite the ban, the cultural ritual is practiced among the Pokot, Sabiny and Tepeth tribes in the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo in eastern Uganda.

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