Female genital mutilation is simply the piercing, cutting, removing or sewing closed all or part of a girl’s or woman’s external genital for non-medical reasons.
The crude practice which is commonly performed on girls and young women ranging from age 0 to 18 is not prescribed by religion and usually without any known benefits to the health of women.
Globally, research has shown that over 200 million girls and women alive today have had female genital mutilation performed on them without their prior consent.
This often times has left many of the victims of female genital mutilation with life threatening physical and psychological trauma as presently in many culture today particularly in Africa there seem to be no end in sight in the fight against the deliberate abuse and violation of children’s rights which is clearly at variance with article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
In Esan culture and tradition in Edo State of Nigeria, the gross violation of article 37 of CRC which explicitly gurantees the right of freedom from torture or other cruel , inhuman or degrading, treatment or punishment is a common practice as girls and women are grossly abused and violated on the basis of female genital mutilation for several reasons.
Notably in some parts of Esan culture especially individuals with royal background, every girl child in the lineage is expected to undergo the practice as important precondition to the crowning of a new traditional ruler.
As the crude practice of female genital mutilation using unsterilized sharp objects such as knife or broken bottle to perform the routine procedure continues irrespective of the pains, shock, pyschological trauma and other health implications girls are directly exposed to, many families have resorted to self-help as alternative way to skip the process by absconding to places where enforced legal protection is offered against the crude act.
It is clearly understood that while the victims of female genital mutilation in many African culture and tradition like Esan Culture in Edo State have little or no say in swaying already established cultural norms on the practice of female genital mutilation, many of these families of these young girls or women seek alternative options to abandon family circle and flee from their immediate family members.
Similarly over 28% of Nigerian families have had to abscond with family members including their daughters from their immediate communities as the only proactive measures against being direct victims of the crude practice of female genital mutilation.
To abscond usually is perceived as the only alternative way out of the gross violation of the fundamental human rights and freedom which prevents the attainment of a qualitative and fulfilled life, as many courageous girls or women posed with the threat of undergoing the practice are currently seeking refuge elsewhere with their families in an undisclosed location in order to avoid the savagery of female genital mutilation.
However for many victims of female genital mutilation in African culture who are rather unfortunate to escape from the cultural servitude of female genital mutilations, the laws in place must be fully enforced through a political will to put a final end to the life threatening menace in order to protect the future of the younger generation of girls.
With effective laws in place to give protection to young girls and women against the crude practice of female genital mutilation, many young girls will feel fully protected against female genital mutilation and be able to aspire in order to fulfill their life-long ambition in the pursuit of their ambition
However in Nigeria, there are many effective legislations against this crude practice both at the national and the state level of government without any impact on the victims.
Sadly, there are many unseen social, cultural and political impediments to the these laws by way of implementation as the political will to enforce the laws is more often than not practically non-existent hence the continued violation of the girl and women’s fundamental human rights as it relates to female genital mutilation .
