TANZANIA: Girls cut after leaving refuge - one father arrested

Tanzania Daily News
January  19,2015

Tanzania: Police Confirm Single Arrest Over Forced FGM in Tarime

By Mugini Jacob Tarime — POLICE have arrested a man here for allegedly forcing her daughter to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) at a village in Tarime, Mara Region .

The single arrest came in the wake of shocing reports that dozens of girls who escaped the cut and camped at Termination of Female Genital Mutilation(TFGM) Masanga Centre in the critical months of November and December when FGM was widely conducted in area, are now being subjected to forced circumcision.

More than 600 most school girls refused the cut and sought shelter at the rescue centre, which operates under the Roman Catholic Church of Musoma Diocese with the support of several partners, including United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) and Children's Dignity Forum(CDF), a nongovernmental organisation, which has of late enhanced the battle against FGM in the area.

... The girls left the centre early this month in a colourful function officiated by Minister for Labour and Employment, Ms Gaudensia Kabaka.

Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA) Executive Director Ms Valerie Msoka described the report about the girl who was forcibly cut in Tarime as "shocking and humiliation of the highest order".

She called for immediate new effective measures that will help to save girls from the outdated harmful culture. FGM is illegal according to the law. "
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