The Sydney Morning Herald reported today the story of Grace Gichuhi, 22 and her 21 year old friend Teresia Muturi, Kenyan asylum seekers who fled their homeland for fear of overwhelming community pressure that would force them to undergo female genital mutilation, or FGM. Read the article here. FGM is a vile practice that can maim and kill women, and is also deeply rooted in African cultural norms. Both women were refused a protection visa in Australia and have been asked to leave the country.

The following is a brief description of female genital mutilation. If you are at all like a friend of mine who turns a very pale shade and starts to lose focus in his vision whenever I start talking about child abuse, torture or female genital mutilation, be aware that the following description is quite graphic.

Female genital mutilation, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is used to ‘intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons’. There are four types of FGM:

  • Clitoridectomy is the total or partial removal of the clitoris
  • Excision removes the clitoris and the labia minora and sometimes the labia majora (the labia are the ‘lips’ that surround the vagina)
  • Infibulation narrows the vaginal opening by cutting and repositioning the inner and sometimes outer labia creating a seal
  • And others include pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and burning.

There are no medical benefits whatsoever to FGM and it can result in bleeding, problems urinating, childbirth complications, cysts, infertility, and death. The WHO also reports that sometimes women undergo surgery after being circumcised to allow for sex and childbirth and are then re-stitched.

Female genital mutilation is a gross violation of women’s rights. It is usually practised on children from infancy to 15 years old. And it happens to Australian women too. While it is illegal under the Crimes Act of 1900, section 45, young girls will often return to their parents’ home country for a ‘special ceremony’. When possible, child protection services are able to intervene, but it is often too late.

Young girls and women are subjected to FGM to control female sexuality, as part of an initiation into womanhood, to clean the girl’s genitals, because they may be considered unsightly, or for religious reasons (although it is not referred to in any religious texts). It is very difficult to combat because it is so deeply ingrained in some cultures, particularly in Africa.

The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees is the legal document Australia, and all countries that have ratified or acceded to it, use to determine whether those claiming asylum are refugees. The definition of a refugee under the Convention is very narrow and does not include those at risk of female genital mutilation.

Asylum seekers in Australia currently apply to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), for a protection visa. If rejected, they are able to appeal this decision at the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT). Both DIAC and the RRT use the Refugee Convention to guide their decision making process. As FGM does not come under the dictates of the Convention, Asylum seekers fleeing FGM are only able to be granted a protection visa if the Minister for Immigration, Chris Evans, uses his non-compellable superpowers to grant them protection, and only once they have been rejected at every stage of the process. This whole ordeal is costly, time-consuming and can be very distressing for the asylum seeker who spends this time on a bridging visa, with or without work and medicare rights, with no guarantee of a positive decision.

The Rudd government recently tabled in federal parliament a bill that will introduce a system of complementary protection. This will allow asylum seekers fleeing female genital mutilation, honour killings, or anything that doesn’t fall within the confines of the Refugee Convention, to be granted protection in Australia. For women like Grace Gichuhi, and Teresia Muturi, complementary protection could quite literally save their lives.

Amnesty International has been campaigning for a complementary protection bill in Australia for some time. You can read more about the bill here.

For those wanting to learn more about female genital mutilation have a look for a Senegalese film called ‘Moolaade’ about a woman by the name of Mama Colle. Mama Colle provides sanctuary for young women fleeing female genital mutilation in their village. And you know it’s a good film because Margaret gave it four stars and David four and a half! You can read about it here.

You may have heard about the book ‘Desert Flower’, written by model and human rights activist Waris Dirie who was a victim of FGM herself.

Female genital mutilation is not a nice topic to think or talk about, but an estimated 100 to 140 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to it. These women have had to experience, the least we can do is not ignore it.