Child died during clitoral ablation: stop the woman who did the operation

The woman responsible for the death of Deeqa Dahir Nuur The 10-year-old Somali child who died of bleeding caused by the removal of his clitoris, was arrested and prosecuted . This was announced by the Minister of Justice, Ahmed Ali Dahir, at a conference on female bad mutilation of 19459004 underway in Mogadishu attended by government officials, religious leaders and journalists . Last Friday, Deeqa arrived at the hospital in very serious conditions: two days before her mother had taken her to a woman from her village to undergo the removal of her clitoris. An operation that – as happens in many cases of this kind – is practiced without any kind of anesthesia and with poor sanitation . "We all rushed to the emergency when we heard of his situation," said Abdirahman Omar Hbadan, the doctor at the Dusa Mareb hospital, where the child was hospitalized. "Unfortunately had lost a lot of blood and did not survive ". Clinical tests revealed that Deeqa contracted tetanus because the items used by the woman had not been sterilized . "I've never seen such a mutilation in my life," says Hbadan

The decision to try the woman guilty of the death of the 10-year-old girl represents a historic turning point for Somalia. This will be the first trial of this kind in the African country, where female bad mutilation is still deeply rooted.

"It's really a turning point for Somalia," Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Gulaid said in a video posted on Twitter. " It is incredible that these things happen in the 21st century and that a child dies because of bad mutilation," added the deputy premier of Somalia.

Ifrah Ahmed, one of the most well-known Somali activists who for years has been fighting FGM, confirmed that the Minister of Justice has made arrangements to send a team of female bad mutilations. investigators to determine the causes of Deeqa's death. "The minister told us that he had opened the case in Mogadishu and that would also investigate the parents ," Ahmed said. In fact, the father of the child, although he was upset by the loss of Deeqa, justified his death. "In this region, people accept bad mutilation – he said – we saw the consequences but is the culture of the country in which we live .Nobody is responsible for the death of my daughter. It was the will of God ".

"Circumcision of girls is a cruel and degrading practice and is tantamount to torture, so it is forbidden," says the Somali constitution. However, no law punishes those who practice it. Or rather, all efforts to enact laws have been blocked by parliamentarians who fear losing the voices of a part of the Muslim community that supports this ritual and sees it as "part of tradition". Somalia is the country with the highest rate of women undergoing clitoral ablation. According to the 2011 UNICEF survey, about 98% of Somali women and girls have undergone some form of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

An atrocious practice that, despite the efforts of activists throughout the world, continues to be considered "a ritual of pbadage" to which, especially with the arrival of the summer, thousands teenagers and girls are obliged. Many communities practice bad mutilation in the belief that it will guarantee virginity before marriage and the fidelity of the future wife and thus the honor of the family. Although religious beliefs are used to justify this violence against women's bodies, there is no precept or belief that provides it.