EGYPT: Gynaecologists reject female cutting

Bikyamasr (Egypt)
September 6, 2012

Egyptian gynecologists refuse call for end to FGM criminalization, sparks worries

Education key to ending FGM in Egypt.

By Joseph Mayton and Manar Ammar

CAIRO: Gynecologists representing members of The Egyptian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Egyptian Universities, Ministry of Health and Population Hospitals, Teaching Hospitals, Military and Police Hospitals issued a declaration in the wake of recent convocation to perform Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and refused calls to repeal the law prohibiting and criminalizing practitioners who perform it, the United Nations said in a statement.

As a result, the UN office in Cairo is holding a press conference on September 10 to address these recent events.

It is the latest battle between those who have called for an end to FGM in the country and those who continue to push for its legality.

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Egypt Rights surveys in the country put the number of women who go through FGM to be around 86 percent. Current Egyptian law bans the practice and gives prison sentences to any medical staff who performs the surgery. However, many families go to underground clinics to get their daughters the procedure, risking permanent scares or even death.