Stopping Female-Genital-Mutilation;
a Difficult Challenge.
It would be virtually impossible for authorities to stop people taking children overseas to undergo genital mutilation, unless they have received evidence ahead of time, according to Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop.
Ms. Bishop on Wednesday urged relatives or friends to alert authorities if they learned children were being taken abroad to undergo female genital mutilation.
It came as The Guardian Australia reported a Brisbane girl, believed to be aged between four and seven-years-old was suspected to have been taken by her father, possibly to the west African nation of Gambia, for the procedure.
The deputy director of gynaecology at Mater Mother's Hospital, Elize Bolton, said she saw between three and five patients a year who had undergone the procedure, which is also known as female circumcision, at the anti-natal clinic the hospital runs for refugees.
During the procedure, females, often just girls, have their external genitalia removed, most often without anaesthesia.
Depending on how far the person performing it goes, the clitoris, urethra, labia minora and labia majora can be cut off, with tools ranging from knives to anything sharp, such as a tin lid. The area is then stitched, leaving a very small vaginal opening for the woman to menstruate and urinate.
Complications include bleeding, infection, difficulty passing urine and pain during sexual intercourse. Depending on the level of scar tissue, child birth can be an issue.
Dr Bolton said in many cases, the woman's vagina had to be cut open in order for her to give birth.
"It is horrible for us because we are not used to it - but in Africa you do what the community does, because if you don't you get thrown out - so a mother may take a daughter, because even if it was traumatic for her, if she doesn't do it, she will be thrown out”, she said.
“And we think why would a mother do that to her daughter, but we don't have to fight day to day for our living. And if she didn't, she would be thrown out of her community; and being thrown out to live on your own in Africa... that doesn't bear thinking about.”
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