Doctors in Egypt have taken time out of their surgeries for a campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM) after the death of a 12-year-old girl, saying they do not want their white coats "stained with blood", says a report on the allafrica.com. Genital cutting of girls was banned in Egypt in 2008, but it remains persistent – a 2016 survey by the UN Children's Fund showed 87% of women and girls aged 15-49 had undergone the procedure.
Organiser of the "White Coats" campaign and head of the NGOs' Union Against Harmful Practices on Women and Children, Randa Fakhr El Deen, said the doctors had faced challenges from proponents of FGM at the station, but the campaign was important. "Some ultraconservatives were not convinced of what we were saying, but we opened a discussion with them, responded to their arguments and answered all their questions," she is quoted in the report as saying. World leaders have pledged to eradicate FGM by 2030, but campaigners say the ancient ritual, which typically involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, remains deeply entrenched in many places.
Last month Egyptian authorities arrested a retired doctor on charge of carrying out illegal FGM surgery and causing the death of a 12-year-old girl. The girl's parents were also arrested. All have since been released, but investigations are continuing and campaigners against FGM say they expect them to face trial.
Women and children's rights groups in Egypt say the ban has not been well enforced and that much of society is permissive of FGM, which is widely practised by both Christians and Muslims. "It is a religious thing. Do you want to change religion?" said metro user Ibrahim Hassan in response to the "White Coats" campaign. "You only listen to what the West is saying." In response, Fakhr El Deen told Hassan that FGM had no basis in religion and was not taught in medical schools in Egypt.
[link url="https://allafrica.com/stories/202002120718.html"]Full report on the allafrica.com site[/link]
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