Sudan criminalises female genital mutilation

Sudan has declared female genital mutilation (FGM) illegal, making the act punishable by three years imprisonment.

FMG or female circumcision is the removal of some or all the external female sex organs for a variety of reasons and mostly common among countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

But on April 22, the Sudanese government approved an amendment to its criminal legislation, stating that anyone who performs the procedure anywhere faces three years imprisonment and a fine.

The UN estimates that 87 percent of Sudanese women, aged between 14 and 49, have undergone female circumcision, where either their inner labia, outer labia, or the clitoris are removed.

Sudan is considered one of the countries where FGM prevalence is very high, although sources had reported a decline among age group 14-0 years from 37 percent in 2010 to 31.5 in 2014.

“This practice is not only a violation of every girl child’s rights. It’s harmful and has serious consequences for their physical and mental health,” a UNICEF Representative in Sudan said.

“This is why governments and communities alike must take immediate action to put an end to this practice. Every girl deserves to be ‘saleema’.”

In 2015, the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan had signed a federal law banning female circumcision in Nigeria in a landmark decision that had set off similar movements in Africa.