UGANDA: Female circumcision shoots up in Karamoja

December 7th 2008

Female genital mutilation is on the increase in Karamoja, a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said.

According to the report, thousands of girls aged 10 to 15 are being circumcised and then forcefully married off.

“The culture is spreading like wild fire and if not controlled, it will lead to high deaths as a result of excessive bleeding and HIV/AIDS,” said Patrick Osekeny, the UNFPA coordinator for Moroto district.

Uganda outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM) in 1989, but there is no law to charge those who practice it.

Osekeny said hundreds of girls are being circumcised each year among the Pokot in Nakapiripirit district and among the Tepeth on the slopes of Mt. Moroto.

He said between August and September 2008, over 70 girls were circumcised in Amudat and Kokabok parishes, Pokot county in Nakapiripirit.

The UNFPA noted that hundreds of the teenage girls are exposed to HIV/AIDS as several of them are circumcised using the same knife.

“The girls of the same period of birth in a village are circumcised as a group and are kept together in one hut,” said Alexandrea Kagaha, a consultant with Development research Limited in Karamoja.

He said some of the girls have died from excessive bleeding.

MPs from the region said FGM was an old practice that has not been paid much attention to.

“Close to 100% of Pokot have undergone FGM. The problem is that there has been no attempt to reduce the practice,” said Francis Kiyonga, the MP for Upe county in Nakapiripirit.

He attributed the practice to the strong belief among men in the region that circumcised women are less promiscuous.

The situation is made worse by the rising practice of marrying off young girls to older men for a hefty price due to the increasing poverty.

“The situation is worse among the Pokot. Girls are now married off at 10 or as soon as they get their first periods,” the Nakapiripirit senior education officer, Anne Risa, said.

She also attributed this trend to the poverty which has hit the region, forcing parents to exchange their teenage girls for bride price.

Unlike in Kapchorwa, where affirmative action has been taken against FGM, there is no single organisation addressing the practice in Karamoja.

Female circumcision is practised in Bukwo and Kapchorwa districts by the Sabiny tribe. Girls aged 10 to 15 are circumcised in a ceremony that marks their entry into adulthood.

FGM involves the cutting or removal of the clitoris and other vaginal tissue that are known to be vital in sexual arousal.

The surgery is often done under unsanitary conditions.

According to the World Health Organisation, the prevalence of FGM is about 5% in Uganda.

The Government is opposed to female circumcision, citing medical evidence that the mutilation endangers the health of the women and increases their vulnerability to HIV.

The practice also raises the risk of maternal and infant mortality and reduces the women’s psychological, sexual and reproductive health.

Despite the negative findings, an estimated 100 to 140 million women and girls worldwide have undergone the practice and three million more girls are at risk each year, according to the UN.

Source: New Vision 7 December 2008