Female genital mutilation in Nigeria and Burkina Faso: Safeguarding the rights of women and girls in Africa

• Citation: (2022) 9(2) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 102
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/JCLA/v9/i2a4
• Published date: 09 March 2023
• Pages: 102-136
• Author: Olusegun, O.O.
• Date: 09 March 2023

102

https://doi.org/10.47348/JCLA/v9/i2a4

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA

AND BURKINA FASO: SAFEGUARDING THE

RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN AFRICA

Olaitan O. Olusegun*

Abstract

Article 2 of the Convention against the Elimination of Discrimination against

Women explicitly prohibits violence against women, which was defined to include

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is a practice which is entrenched

in African culture. Archaic as this practice is, it is widely carried out in several

countries, with its attendant deleterious effects. Nigeria and Burkina Faso have

a high prevalence of FGM but have made legislative efforts to curb the practice.

Burkina Faso has, however, employed additional measures to ensure their laws”

enforcement, which has effectively changed the cultural attitudes of several

communities towards FGM in the country. This study uses a doctrinal approac h to

examine the prevalence, mode of operation and legal framework enacted to protect

girls and women from FGM in Nigeria and Burkina Faso. It further discusses the

efforts taken in Burkina Faso to implement and enforce their laws, in addition to

the challenges inherent in enforcing FGM laws in Nigeria. This article found that

enforcement of laws is key to eliminating FGM, and Nigeria needs to take urgent

measures to enforce their FGM legislation like Burkina Faso.

Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation; harmful traditional practices;

gender-based violence; human rights; medicalisation; Nigeria; Burkina Faso

Résumé

L’article 2 de la Convention contre l’élimination de toutes les formes de

discrimination à l’égard des femmes interdit explicitement la violence à l’égard

des femmes, qui a été définie comme incluant les mutilations génitales féminines

(MGF). Les MGF sont une pratique enracinée dans la culture afr icaine. Aussi

archaïque que soit cette pratique, elle est largement pratiquée dans plusieurs pays,

avec les effets délétères qui en découlent. Le Nigeria et le Burkina Faso ont une

forte prévalence de MGF mais ont fourni des efforts législatifs pour éradiquer cette

pratique. Le Burkina Faso a cependant utilisé des mesures additionnelles pour

assurer l’application de ses lois, ce qui a effectivement changé les attitudes culturelles

de plusieurs communautés envers les MGF dans le pays. Cette étude a adopté une

approche doctrinale pour examiner la prévalence, le mode de fonctionnement et le

cadre juridique mis en place pour protéger les filles et les femmes des MGF au

Nigeria et au Burkina Faso. Il examine en outre les efforts entrepris au Burkina

Faso pour mettre en œuvre et faire respecter leurs lois, en plus des défis inhérents à

l’application des lois sur les MGF au Nigeria. Cet article a révélé que l’application

* Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Email: o.olusegun@

hotmail.com.

(2022) 9(2) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 102

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FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NIGERIA AND BURKINA FASO:

SAFEGUARDING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN AFRICA 103

https://doi.org/10.47348/JCLA/v9/i2a4

des lois est essentielle pour éliminer les MGF et que le Nigeria à l’instar du

Burkina Faso doit prendre des mesures urgentes pour faire appliquer sa législation

sur les MGF.

Mot clés: Mutilation Génitale Féminine ; mauvaises pratiques traditionnelles;

violence fondée sur le genre; droits de l’homme; médicalisation; Nigeria; Burkina

Faso

Introduction

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is defined as “all surgical procedures

involving partial or total removal of the exter nal genitalia and/or injury to

the female genitalia organs, whether for cultural or other non-therapeutic

reasons”.1 FGM is dominant in several countries in Africa, some parts

of the Middle East and Asia, and other countries where migrants from

FGM-practicing communities reside.2 While more than 200 million

women and girls have been subjected to the practice,3 the World Health

Organisation (WHO) estimates that more than 3 million girls are at risk

annually.4 While FGM has been banned in several Afr ican countries,

including Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique,

Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Nigeria, other countries like Chad, Liberia,

Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan have not criminalised the practice,

despite its prevalence in these countries.5 Human rights instruments

consider FGM as a harmful practice and as a form of violence against

women and girls because the practice causes grievous harm and deprives

victims of their rights to life, the highest attainable standard of health,

freedom from torture, and inhumane and degrading treatment as well as

freedom from discrimination based on sex.6 Target 5.3 of the Sustainable

Development Goals emphasises the need to eradicate all types of harmful

practices, including FGM, worldwide by 2030 to achieve gender equality

1 Gbadebo, B. ‘Cohort analysis of the state of female genital cutting in Nigeria: Prevalence,

daughter circumcision and attitude towards its discontinuation’ (2021) 21(1) BMC Women’s

Health182–194 at 182.

2 Seidu, A. ‘Female genital mutilation and skilled birth attendance among women in sub-

Saharan Africa’ (2022) 22(1) BMC Women’s Health 1–11 at 2.

3 Nabaneh, S. & Adamson, M.S. ‘Female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa: A complex legal

and ethical landscape’(2019) 145(2) International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics253–257 at 253.

4 World Health Organization (WHO) ‘Female genital mutilation factsheet’ (2018) available

at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation [Accessed on

3 May 2022].

5 Batha, E. ‘African countries urged to toughen laws on female genital mutilation’ (2018)

available at www.reuters.com/article/us-afr ica-fgm-lawmaking/african-countries-urged-to-

toughen-laws-on-female-genital -mutilation-idUSKCN1LT2OQ [Accessed on 18 March 2019].

6 See ar t 1(g) Protocol to the African Char ter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of

Women in Africa, 2003; Ahmed, H.M. ‘Knowledge and perspectives of female genital cutting among

the local religious leaders in Erbil governorate, Iraqi Kurdistan region’ (2018) 15(1) Reproductive

Health 1v14 at 2.

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

104 JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE LAW IN AFRICA VOL 9, NO 2, 2022

https://doi.org/10.47348/JCLA/v9/i2a4

and empower women and girls.7 The need to end this violence has

been re-emphasised as a thematic area to commemorate the Day of the

African Child 2022. The theme “Eliminating Harmful Practices Affecting

Children: Progress on Policy and Practice since 2013” was selected by the

African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

(ACERWC) to review the current status of African children subjected to

traditional practices and to seek for effective mechanisms to address the

obstacles hindering the complete elimination of these harmful practices.8

WHO has classified FGM into four categories: the partial or total

removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy), the more har mful exercise of

removing the whole clitoris and cutting off the labia minora (excision).

The most dangerous and life-threatening form is when the whole external

genitalia are removed, and the two sides of the vulva are stitched together,

with a small opening left for urine and menstrual fluid (infibulation).

The stitched area is reopened for childbirth and sewed up again after

the process.9 The fourth type includes all other injur ious acts done to

the female organ for motives that are not medical, such as pricking,

piercing, incising, cutting, scraping, introducing corrosive substances and

cauterisation.10 FGM is carr ied out for several reasons, mostly tied to the

cultural and social norms of communities that practice it. These cultures

have formed a considerable justification for the continuation of these

acts, which has affected efforts by the government and non-governmental

organisations (NGOs) to eradicate FGM in several Afr ican countries.

FGM is a traumatic experience which causes harm to its victims and

results in immediate and long-term health consequences. Immediate

consequences include severe pain, shock, injury to the vaginal tissue and

heavy bleeding. In the long r un, victims may have infertility problems,

keloid scar formation, difficulty in passing urine, dysmenorrhea, decreased

sexual pleasure, psychological issues, problems in childbirth, infertility,

vulval adhesions, per ineal lacerations, infections like HIV/AIDS caused

by the use of unsterilised instruments, and death.11 Thus, to reduce the

risk of health complications, FGM has been increasingly medicalised

recently, and healthcare providers are invited to car ry out FGM for girls

7 Nnanatu, C.C. ‘Evaluating changes in the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting

among 0-14 years old girls in Nigeria using data from multiple surveys: A novel Bayesian hierarchical

spatio-temporal model’(2021) 16(2) Plos One e0246661v e0246692 at e0246661.

8 See African Committee on Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child ‘Concept note on

day of the African child (DAC) 2022’ para 3 available at https://www.acerwc.afr ica/wp-content/

uploads/2022/04/Concept-Note-of-DAC-2022-English.pdf [Accessed on 2 September 2022].

9 Berg, R.C. ‘Reasons for and exper iences with surgical interventions for female genital

mutilation/cutting (FGM/C): A systematic review’ (2017) 14(1) The Journal of Sexual Medicine 977-

990 at 978.

10 Odukogbe, A.A. ‘Female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa’ (2017) 6(1) Translational

Andrology and Urology138–148 at 139.

11 Seidu op cit note 2 at 2.

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