Guardian newspaper reader’s campaign to eradicate FGM
‘It is thought there are about 130 million girls and women globally who have experienced female genital mutilation, and that perhaps 30 million girls and young women around the world are still subjected to FGM every year. UNICEF reports (Feb. 2013) that more than 90 per cent of women aged 15–49 years have been cut in Egypt (91%), Djibouti (93%), Guinea (96%) and Somalia (98%)…;
In 2008 AkiDwA produced the first initial statistical extrapolation of the prevalence of FGM in Ireland This was done by using Irish 2006 census data from the Central Statistics Office and synthesising it with global FGM prevalence data. A figure of 2,585 women living in Ireland who had undergone FGM was estimated. This figure was updated in 2010 and in 2013 after the 2011 census and there are currently estimated to be 3,780 women living in Ireland who have undergone FGM. The most recent data has shown that despite a decline in inward migration to Ireland the figure of the prevalence of FGM in Ireland continues to increase.
After a decade of campaigning and lobbying, the Criminal Justice (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2012 was signed into law in April 2012, and became effective in September 2012. The Act creates an innovative offence of removal from the State of a girl for the purpose of FGM. Punishment is up to 14 years imprisonment and/or a fine; for a summary conviction, the penalty is a fine of up to €5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both (source: www.akidwa.ie).
KWIN 