Using data from the 2016 Census it is estimated that approximately 5,790 girls living in Ireland have been victims of Female Genital Mutilation. This is compared with around 3,780 in 2013 – a huge increase of 53% in just three years.
The barbaric practice is most common in North African countries even though it is widely recognised as a human rights violation. It has no medical benefits and is performed only to eliminate women’s enjoyment of sex.
Not only is FGM illegal in Ireland, it is also a criminal offence for someone here to take a girl to another country to undergo it. However that doesn’t seem to stop the people who carry out the procedure in the name of culture from doing it. It is mostly performed on girls and infants below the age of 15 – often by their own mothers.
Most victims in Ireland have come here from Somalia, Sudan, Nigerian and Kenya. In Somalia alone, a staggering 98 per cent of girls have undergone Female Genital Mutilation.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently said of FGM “It denies women and girls their dignity and causes needless pain and suffering, with consequences that endure for a lifetime and can even be fatal.”