Comparative Analysis of Female Genital Mutilation in United States and Nigeria - Summer Presentation at Tulane University Law School (Presentation Slides)

Abstract

Introduction: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a human right violation and a form of child abuse against women and girls that occur across the globe especially in Africa. It is the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or female organ for non-medical reasons. Nigeria has the prevalence of 24.6% of their women and girls at the risk of the practice annually. Girls are at risk from the age of birth to 15 years, adult women before their marriage or until their first pregnancy. However, 513,000 girls are estimated to be at risk in the United States. Worldwide, as many as 140 million girls and women alive have been cut. Internationally, Organizations have frowned at this practice which has led to the promulgation of various International laws and treaties which Nigeria and the US are State parties to it. The Federal Government of Nigeria on the 25th of May 2015 passed the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP) into law at the Federal level. Only 13 out of 36 States have passed the law since 2015. There is no express definition of female genital mutilation. The law only prohibit the practice. Reasons that have influenced the practice include religious practice, social acceptability, poor hygiene, condition of marriage, traditional practices, political influence and sexual promiscuity. As a result of the practice more than 5,000 girls die annually with no cases recorded of the prosecutions of the perpetrators in Nigeria. Unlike Nigeria, the practice seems common in the United States of America only among the immigrant and metropolitan groups. The US Government consider it a violation of women’s right and a form of child abuse. Female Genital Mutilation Act enacted in 1996 made it a criminal offence to perform FGM on a girl younger than 18 years or to attempt to take a girl out of the United States for the practice. Thirty three states in the United States have passed the Act as a law. Two cases has been decided in the United States in 2006 and 2017. The first conviction in 2006 was the case of Khalid Adem, an Ethiopian American and the second is the case Jumana Nagarwala, a doctor working at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit decided in April 2017. The second case was the first federal prosecution for female genital mutilation in US history. The state of Georgia as of 2006 had no law on FGM. In Nigeria, it has been impossible to identify any prosecution brought under the VAPP Act since 2015. The recent report by the UNFPA / UNICEF Joint Program did not list any arrests, cases or convictions for Female genital mutilation in Nigeria in 2016. Conclusion: From the analysis, we will understand that the practice of FGM exist in the two countries but Nigeria seems to be laid back. Educating the citizens about the law, community engagement/involvement, enforcement of the law, enactment of the law by the remaining states and amendment of some provisions of the act to include the trends in the 21st century will improve the status of women against female genital mutilation. Generally, human right abuse calls for the attention of the every society to help solve the social problem created by through man-made activities on earth with no benefit but has resulted in various health challenges and lead to the death of many women.