It’s banned under international and national law yet almost the entire female population aged between 15 and 49- years-old who live in Guinea in West Africa have undergone genital mutilation and/or excision.
A report released by the UN on Monday also shows that genital mutilation and/or excision is carried out at a younger age that previously believed with data showing 69 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 were excised before the age of 10.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN commissioner for human rights, said female genital mutilation is “extremely detrimental” to the health of women and girls and is also an act of “atrocious violence”.
“There is no possible justification for this practice – no cultural, religious or medical reason whatsoever,” he said.
Guinea has the second highest rate of FGM in the world after Somalia and has rates far higher than the neighbouring countries of Senegal, Ivory Coast and Liberia.
Noting that the non-excision of girls is broadly considered dishonourable in Guinean society, the report shows that while in most countries where FGM/E is still occurring, women and girls are largely in favour of its abolition, this is not the case in Guinea where one study has shown the proportion of women and girls in favour of it rose from 65 per cent in 1999 to 76 per cent in 2012.
