Tanzania Society | Gender - Women Mass FGM ceremonies planned in Tanzania
The government of Tanzania passed a law prohibiting FGM in 1998 and yet reports indicate that during the current holiday season, about 250 girls have already been cut and over 5,000 girls are at risk of being genitally mutilated in Tarime district of Tanzania’s Mara Region alone.
The government of Tanzania prohibits the practice of FGM under its Sexual Offences Special Provision Act 1998. The law provides that anyone having custody, charge or care of a girl under eighteen years of age who causes her to undergo FGM commits the offence of cruelty to children. "Yet, only a handful of cases have reached the courts in recent years and the police are reluctant to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators," according to Equality Now. "Although a number of police stations house units to specifically address gender-based violence, including enforcement of the anti-FGM law, the police continue to fail to protect women and girls from FGM," the group adds. "While it is common knowledge that the communities practice mass ceremonies of FGM every two years, there has been no attempt by the statutory and law enforcement agencies to educate the communities against FGM and to impress on them the illegality of the practice, despite the decades-long efforts of local organizations dedicated to reach these goals," the gender activists hold. According to Ms Mohamed, "there is still time to save girls from FGM. Tanzanian authorities must take strong and immediate action in Tarime against the perpetrators and prevent further incidences from taking place. They need to send parents and circumcisers a loud and clear message that such blatant disregard for the law will not be tolerated.” By staff writer © afrol News - Create an e-mail alert for Tanzania news - Create an e-mail alert for Society news - Create an e-mail alert for Gender - Women news |
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