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Rawat and Tirkey

FGM is deeply entrenched within socio-cultural beliefs over decades and generations around preserving a girl’s purity
and controlling women’s sexuality or chastity. Such practices are more prevail in economically and social deprived
communities and among the less educated, economically, and socially weaker subpopulations (Holmes et al., 2017;
Kloning et al., 2018; Rawat, 2017; Tamire & Molla, 2013; UNICEF, 2017; WHO, 2001). Women become puppets when
they are uninformed and unaware of health hazards caused by such rigid practices (Alcaraz et al., 2014).
It is estimated that FGM practices are widespread and deeply rooted practice, performed in more than 28 countries
of Africa and in a few other scattered communities worldwide (UNICEF, 2017; UNICEF & Gupta, 2013; WHO, 2001,
2012). According to the WHO estimation, between 100 and 140 million women and girls have undergone through FGM
practices, and almost 2 million or more are added each year (UNICEF, 2017; WHO, 2013). In many regions of some
African countries, over more than 80% of women have ever experienced FGM practice (UNICEF, 2022).
However, FGM is not only a severe form of discrimination against girls and women but also a violation to the human
rights of girls and women. The negative consequences and violation of the human rights of FGM have been recognized
by several international rights treaties that affirm the rights of physical integrity and freedom from all forms of torture,
inhumane, degrading treatment and discrimination. Many international organizations such as the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) considers this practice as violence against women
(CEDAW, 1992). The World Conference on Human Rights (WCHR) launched a global movement against the violence
against women and has catalyzed international action on elimination of FGM several decades ago (WCHR, 1993). WCHR
supports all measures by the United Nations and its specialized agencies to ensure the effective protection and promotion
of human rights of the girl-child. WCHR urges its member states to repeal existing laws and regulations and remove
customs and practices which discriminate against and cause harm to the girl-child (WHO, 1996). The United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015, p22) have explicitly stated in its Goal 5 Target 5.3 to
“Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation” by 2030.
1.2. Female genital mutilation and health consequences

FGM practice can lead to various health hazards, some of which may have life-threatening consequences in later life (Klein
et al., 2018; WHO, 2000). Studies have shown that women and girls who experienced FGM practice may suffer from
immediate or long-term health complications such as severe pain, bleeding, hemorrhage, infections, tetanus, oliguria, and
sepsis(Almroth et al., 2005; Coomarasamy et al., 2016; Gebremichael, 2002; Hilber et al., 2007; Insight, 2010; Infections,
2012; Okonofua et al., 2002; Utz-Billing & Kentenich, 2008; WHO, 2012). There is a consensus that FGM plays a
significant role in the development of Pelvic Inflammatory Diseases (PID). Women who had undergone infibulated have
a higher risk of infection and can further cause infertility (Pastor-Bravo et al., 2018; Kimani et al., 2020). Furthermore,
young women and girls may suffer more from health compilations compared to older reproductive women.
FGM has also been evidenced to lead to the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other related complications
due to the nature and serious conditions by which the procedure is done. Women and girls who experienced FGM practice
are more vulnerable to get STI and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as compared to their counterparts who had no
such experiences (Elmusharaf et al., 2006; O’Neill, 2012; Watkins, 2016; WHO, 2013, 2022). One Nigerian hospital-
based study shows that FGC increases various reproductive problems (such as infections and infertility related problems)
among those who experienced FGM practice and increases the vulnerability of STIs and HIV (Dare et al., 2004; Hilber
et al., 2007; Mandara, 2004). Furthermore, according to an analysis by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
the proportion of FGM undergone medicalized among the adolescents aged 15 – 19 years is twice as high compared to the
women aged between 45 and 49 years (UNICEF, 2020).

1.3. Why Senegal?
Senegal is located in West African continent and is divided into 14 administrative divisions. The country covered a land
area of nearly 197,000 square kilometers and had 17.14 million population (2021). According to the World Bank (2022),
the adult literacy rate of the country was 52% in 2017, and the youth aged 15 – 24 years literacy rate was about 76%
for men and 64% for women. Today, about 25% of women of reproductive ages in Senegal, or equivalent to or nearly 2
million, have undergone the FGM practice, with southeast the highest prevalent areas (UNICEF, 2022). This prevalence
of FGM seems largely unchanged in the last two decades. Senegal is a very good research sample for studying FGM
and related issues. A recent infographic report based on the Demographic and Health Survey since 2005 released by the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNCIEF, 2022) has largely filled our knowledge gap about FGM in Senegal. Evidence
also shows that FGM practice is most common among girls and women from the poorest families and those from the

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