World Bank: Fund programs to stop Female Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation is the world’s most widespread form of terror. It targets little girls.

Every year two million have their clitoris cut off and their vaginal lips excised with knives or razor blades. The consequences are devastating, physically and psychologically. Sometimes they are fatal.

This practice is not sanctified by Islam or any other religion. Most Islamic societies do not mutilate their daughters’ genitals. It is simply an ancient tradition based on fear of women’s sexuality. That is a God-given quality which should be educated with love, not crippled by violence.

Many African governments are trying to eradicate such a harmful practice. They realize that no country can truly develop if half of its people are deliberately maimed. But their efforts are feeble. They just don’t have the money for effective educational and health programs. These are countries where the average income is about $2/day. Small amounts of aid can have a huge impact. Of course it must be well monitored and culturally sensitive.

One way to finance this would be to cancel part of these countries’ foreign debt in return for programs to stop female genital mutilation. This approach has proven successful in saving tropical rainforests through debt for nature swaps. Why not recycle a fraction of their uncollectible debt to save millions of children from real and present sexual terror?

This excruciating violence has long been shrouded in a code of silence. Only in the last decade has it come out of the shadows. Actual progress is slow. Because of rapid population growth the absolute number of victims may be greater than ever. Today, and every day, 6000 girls will endure the torture.

Sexism is as degrading as racism. The magnitude and horror of female genital mutilation cry out for action.

Please don’t let these girls down.

For more information go to: http://tomfalvey.wordpress.com

Scroll down past the initial statement to the World Health Organization's fact sheet on FGM and
the U.S. State Department's human rights reports on this subject. (If you can bear to read this sickening material, couched in dry bureaucratic language.)

The map shows where FGM is practiced. Darker areas indicate increased prevalence: for example, in Egypt and Somalia over 90% of girls and women are mutilated.