Too often, the first message a girl receives about her body is that it is imperfect – too fat or too thin, too dark or too freckled. But for some girls, the message is that to be accepted by the wider community, their bodies must be cut, altered, and even reshaped through a practice known as female genital mutilation (FGM).

Often viewed as a rite of passage, FGM can result in serious health complications, including infections, chronic pain, and infertility. It can even be deadly. Despite being internationally recognised as a human rights violation, some 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, and, if current rates persist, an estimated 68 million more will be cut between 2015 and 2030.

FGM AS A GLOBAL ISSUE

Although the practice of FGM mainly takes place within African and Middle Eastern countries, it also occours in several sites in Asia, Latin America, and among migrant populations in the so-called developed countries. FGM is part of a wide range of patriarchal practices anchored in gender inequality, whose aim is to control the bodies, sexuality, and reproductive rights of women and girls. FGM denies women and girls several rights, including the right to physical and mental integrity, to be free from violence, to the highest possible level of health, to be free from discrimination based on gender, and to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

FGM is internationally-recognised as a violation of the human rights of women and girls and as an extreme form of discrimination and violence directed exclusively at girls and women, based on sex. The practice is a crime in all European Union member states, based on generic or specific legislation. Despite this, any girl born within a community where FGM is practiced is potentially at risk of being subjected to the procedure.

The 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) is the first legally-binding European instrument dedicated specifically to preventing violence against women and domestic violence, protecting victims, and punishing aggressors. The Convention reflects current international law and knowledge of promising practices to eradicate violence against women. It aims to protect women from all forms of violence, contribute to ending discrimination against women, promote substantive gender equality, design a comprehensive framework to protect and assist victims of violence against women and domestic violence, and to end impunity for the perpetrators of such acts.

The Istanbul Convention obliges states to prevent, pursue, and eliminate physical, psychological, and sexual violence, including rape, assault, and sexual harassment. It also codifies the protection of women from persecution, forced marriages, forced abortion, forced sterilisation, FGM, and murders--including crimes in the name of so-called “honor”. All of these practices are manifestations of gender violence, aimed at controlling the behavior, sexuality, and autonomy of women. These practices are common amongst all cultures. From a human rights-based perspective with an integrated focus on tackling all forms of violence against women, the Istanbul Convention is a milestone that, if properly implemented, can support states in accelerating efforts to end the practice of FGM in one generation.

A VICTORY FOR SUDANESE WOMEN AND GIRLS

The Ministry of Justice of Sudan announced that the Sovereign Council, the highest authority of the government of Sudan, on 10 July 2020 ratified a law that criminalises FGM. FGM in Sudan is an ancestral practice widely used in the country and currently affects about 86 percent of women. The Council, a transitional body instituted in August 2019 and made up of military and civilian authorities, replaced the “military council that took power after the toppling of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir” and has ratified a series of progressive laws. Among these laws is the one criminalising FGM, a practice that "violates the dignity of women," according to the ministry's statement.

The government in May 2020 adopted the amendment to the penal code, according to which “mutilation of the woman's genitals becomes a crime,” and a person found guilty of practicing FGM faces up to three years in prison and a fine. According to the law, the clinic or place where the mutilation is performed may be closed. The ratification by the Sovereign Council now brings this law into operation.

The announcement comes just over a year after the fall, in April 2019, of the Omar al-Bashir regime, under pressure from a popular revolt. Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, had ruled the country for 30 years following a coup in 1989. Al-Bashir in 2015 ruled out the possibility of adopting a bill against FGM. Sudanese women played a prominent role in the 2019 revolt, which led to the formation of the current transitional government.