Female circumcision

Female circumcision - partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia (clitoral head, labia majora and labia minora), performed without medical indication. As a rule, it is made for religious, ritual reasons. UNICEF and WHO consider this crippling operation a violation of human rights and violence against women.

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2024: Female circumcision is practiced by 7 of Gambia's 9 ethnic groups

"Female circumcision" is practiced by 7 of the 9 ethnic groups of the Gambia, with Mandinka, Diola and Hausa, which make up 52% of the population, practicing its "soft" form (so-called type 2) - partial or complete removal of the clitoris and labia minora without excision of large in girls 10-15 years old, soninka (9%) - "mild" clitorodectomy for newborns (up to 1 week), and fulbe (18%) - the most severe (type 3) - vaginal "stitching" in girls and women aged 1 week to 18 years.

In general, circumcision is considered as part of female initiation (nyaka), during which, including through songs and music, girls learn the key gender norms for their socialization. The excision of the clitoris is believed to release the dangerous and uncontrolled life force sitting there, interfering with socialization and stable reproduction of the social order, thereby "purifying" the child and freeing her mind. Therefore, an uncircumcised girl is deprived of potential social capital, in particular, value as a bride.

Tolerance to practice is gradually declining, not least due to increased awareness of its short-term and long-term negative effects on a woman's psychosexual and physical well-being. According to polls, of those who survived the practice, 44% of women spoke in favor of its continuation. Therefore, associations such as GAMCOTRAP sought to eradicate circumcision while preserving nyaka.

Quite often, the defense of circumcision is reduced to condemning "Western hypocrisy" or "interference" through numerous NGOs. But the famous imam Abduli Fatti spoke best of its essence: since women experience a longer and more intense orgasm than men, the desires and pleasure of men and women must be "balanced." After all, men, in his opinion, hardly have time to satisfy the sexual appetites of their wives, which only encourages women to fornication. Similar arguments, reduced to controlling female sexuality, were made by other advocates of the practice in neighboring countries.

In March 2024, the country's deputies plan to decriminalize women's circumcision. See Gambia for details.

2022: Gynecologist fined in Ingushetia for circumcision of 9-year-old girl

At the end of January 2022, in Ingushetia, gynecologist Izan Nalgieva was fined 30 thousand rubles under Part 1 of Article 115 of the Criminal Code (intentional infliction of minor harm to health) for circumcision of a 9-year-old girl. The corresponding decision was made by the magistrate of the judicial district No. 15 of the republic. Read more here.

2021: ECHR registered the first complaint from Russia about forced female circumcision

In mid-November 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) registered the first complaint from Russia about the inability of the state to ensure the protection of children from crippling operations. It's about female circumcision.

The complaint to the ECHR was drawn up by the lawyer of the Legal Initiative project (included in the register of NPOs-foreign agents) Tatyana Savvina in the interests of an 11-year-old girl from Ingushetia. The complaint says that the girl underwent a clitorectomy procedure at the Aibolit Magas clinic in 2019.

ECHR registered the first complaint from the Russian Federation about forced female circumcision

According to the complaint received, in Russia there is no legislative protection for children in such cases. Such operations under Russian laws can be qualified as mild harm to health. A pediatric gynecologist who performed a clitorectomy on a child faces a fine of up to 40 thousand or arrest of up to four months. The case against the gynecologist was initiated in 2019, lawyers demanded criminal prosecution, but were refused due to the lack of corpus delicti. The accused doctor said she corrected the pathology for medical reasons.

Associate Professor of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Russian National Research Medical University named after N. I. Pirogova Karina Bondarenko explains that operations of this type are "the most gentle of the crippling" and, most likely, will not have serious health consequences. However, a girl who has undergone surgery in the future may have a decrease or change in sexual functions.

The Legal Initiative notes that every year it records at least 1.2 thousand crippling operations of "female circumcision," in particular, in certain regions of Dagestan and Ingushetia.^[1]

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