The Scars of Tradition

Sunday, Apr. 27, 2003 By CHARLES P. WALLACE | COPENHAGEN

SOMALI SURGEON: A circumciser displays the tools of her trade

LIBA TAYLOR/CORBIS

Article Tools

Reprints

(2 of 2)

The practice is common in 28 African countries, where an estimated 100 million women are circumcised. The origins of the tradition are murky; some imbue the ritual with Muslim religious significance, but Muslim scholars say there is no religious basis for it. The type of mutilation practiced in Africa has three levels of severity. The first level involves removing part of the clitoris. The next level, excision, involves removal of part or all of the labia minora. The most severe form, called infibulation, is the removal of the clitoris, labia minora and part of the labia majora, which are then sewn shut. Because medical personnel often refuse to perform the operation, says Amina Kamil Jibrel, a Somali woman who offers counseling to other Somalis at a municipal office in Copenhagen, it is usually carried out by a woman lacking medical training and knowledge of infection. When she was circumcised at 6, Jibrel says she couldn't move for a week: "You sit on the floor for seven days and your legs are tied together with a piece of cloth so you can't move and the wound will heal."

Jibrel, 46, has three sons and never faced the decision about female circumcision in her own family, though she clearly would have rejected it. She recalls the operation as one of the most horrific experiences of her life. "It was terrible," she says. "It was very painful. I didn't have any choice. My parents didn't explain what was happening. An old woman came and held me down with her feet while she performed the circumcision."

Rahmah Ali Kudar says the pain of her circumcision was so intense that she passed out. Even 23 years later, she is still dealing with medical complications from the operation. She has trouble menstruating; there were severe difficulties during her pregnancy; she spends hours on the toilet to pass urine. Kudar arrived in Copenhagen in 1997. Ever since, she has lived in Bispebjerg, a working-class neighborhood of the capital dominated by five- and six-story apartment blocks. Kudar says her husband has agreed that Huda should not be circumcised. "He agrees because the religion says that circumcision is not important," she says. "It is not a religious thing. It is a cultural tradition."

This is a human-rights issue, it's a woman's issue

— ANN CLWYD, BRITISH M.P.

Despite the brutality of the practice and the lifelong health risks, there are still those in Denmark who support circumcision. One Somali imam, Mustafa Abdullahi Aden, was quoted in November by the newspaper Information as saying, "It's good for the girls to be circumcised. It is a signal you are a true believer in Islam." After the article appeared, Aden's employer, the Danish Refugee Relief Council, told him he had to denounce circumcision if he wanted to keep his job. He then signed a letter saying he no longer supports the practice. But a number of other Somali imams in Denmark also approve of the custom.

The new law will be difficult to enforce. Most children in Denmark are examined by school doctors, so it could fall to health professionals to report cases to the authorities. "I must admit, it's not going to be an easy task," says Justice Minister Lene Espersen. "We can't go around checking people." There was a public outcry in January when a city councilman in the city of Aalborg invoked child abuse laws and ordered an examination of a Somali girl, after a social worker reported her suspicion that the girl had been circumcised. A school medical officer carried out an examination, but the girl had not undergone the procedure. Jibrel argues that a better approach is to talk to parents so they can see for themselves the dangers of circumcision. "We need to explain it's not part of the [Islamic] religion and they have to stop because it's bad culture with a lot of [medical] risks," she says. Only then will children like Huda be protected.