Socio-Cultural Practices Harmful on Female Reproductive Health: A Case Against Female Genital Mutilation

Abstract

About 115 to 130 million girls and young women have experienced FGM/C, otherwise referred to as Female Genital Mutilation/cutting and an additional three million are at risk each year. It is one of the most political areas of women’s health. The practice of FGM/C harms the physical, psychological, reproductive and sexual health of women and is a violation of women’s fundamental human rights. The federal government of Nigeria in 2015 enacted the Violence against Person’s Prohibition Act which made provisions criminalising FGM. However the VAPP Act is only applicable in the Federal Capital Territory because it is a matter provided for under the concurrent legislative list. Hence, other states of the federation are expected to pass the same law to become applicable within their states. The main objective of this study is to ascertain, the extent to which FGM is harmful to female reproductive health and ascertain the effectiveness of the VAPP Act, the Constitution and other health policies of government in the eradication of FGM. Despite the VAPP Act which criminalised the offence of FGM there is still a high level of ignorance amongst practitioners. Apart from the violation of the right against torture and the dignity of the human person the study found that there are other dangers associated with the practice varying from danger to physical health resulting from unhygienic and unskilled procedures. Other lifelong effects can result in infertility, since the procedure can limit sexuality and childbearing capacity. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation, Reproductive Health DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/100-07 Publication date: August 31 st 2020