ARANTXA GARCÍA JUNTAS, ANTONIO CANO

LECHUGA AND IRENE DEL REY GUZMÁN

ABLATION ARRIVES IN SPAIN

Female genital mutilation appears a very remote practice, but it can be closer than

people think. Three million female genital mutilations are realized every year around the

world and Spain is not an exception. However, what is the FGM? “Female genital

mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the

external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical

reasons” (WHO, 2018), especially, in Central Africa and Middle Eastern countries.

According to WHO (World Health Organization), there are four types of FGM:

clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation, and type four are called all aesthetical procedures

that are not related to a lack of permission (piercings, cuts, stretching, etcetera). This

practice, understood as a tradition, is due to many factors such as cultural, religious or

sexual. Furthermore, FGM is a common habit in those countries because it is thought as

the entry of the adulthood. However, nowadays in Western society it is considered a

violation of the female human rights. Nevertheless, the recent immigration from these

countries to Europe has incremented the practice of this operation in many European

countries by doing it illegally and without any safety or sanitary conditions. In Spain, the

increase of foreign people from these countries has this archaic practice. This essay will

show the precariousness and the social reality that involves female ablation. Our objective

is to analyse and compare how ablation is performed in Spain and Africa and how the

situation has changed during the past years.

Firstly, FGM can be found in Spain too. The main regions where this practice is

carried out are Catalonia and Andalusia due to the considerable immigrant rate. On the

one hand, in Catalonia there are 1.1 million foreigners, and according to Andriana Kaplan

(2012), around 70,000 of them suffer genital mutilation. Data released in 2012 indicates
 ARANTXA GARCÍA JUNTAS, ANTONIO CANO
LECHUGA AND IRENE DEL REY GUZMÁN

that 18,122 of them are women. Nowadays, there are about 12,000 girls at risk of genital

mutilation in this region of Spain. On the other hand, these data vary in Andalusia because

of the lower number of population, but it keeps being a risky region where FGM

population rises to 33,533, of which 6,197 are women. However, in Spain ablation is

illegal, so girls are clandestinely mutilated in places with no sanitary conditions. This

practise is less common due to the poor conditions of the operation. In addition, many

families travel to their native countries to have their daughters mutilated, and then come

back to Spain. Nevertheless, significant organizations such as WHO or UNICEF are

fighting against this outdated practice around the world, but in Spain many important

organizations have been held in recent years. For example: Wassu-UAB is an

organization that operates with the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona which helps girls

in risk of FGM or who have already been ablated both in Spain and in Africa; in Zaragoza,

Médicos del Mundo cooperates with women from African countries in order to convince

the FGM population not to practice it. Through these organizations, many women who

have suffered from mutilation or have been close to somebody who has suffered its

consequences, are given the opportunity to have a voice and moreover, everything

possible is being done to try to eradicate it in Africa and Spain.

Ablation is practiced in western, eastern and north-eastern Africa, some countries

in the Middle-East and some parts of Asia, but the continent that led the top of most

countries with FGM is Africa, with 29 countries that keep doing the female ablation. This

is not just isolated cases. According to the data provided in 2013 by UNICEF, the

countries where ablation is more commonly practiced are Mali (89%), Somalia (98%),

Sudan (88%), Guinea (96%), Mauritania (69%), Ethiopia (74%), Kenya (27%), Yemen

(23%), Gambia (76%), Senegal (26%), Guinea-Bissau (50%) Central African Republic

(24%), Liberia (66%), Burkina Faso (76%), Eritrea (89%) and Djibouti (93%). The
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LECHUGA AND IRENE DEL REY GUZMÁN

ablation is a serious matter in African society. The majority of these cases are due to the

spiritual, religious or cultural thinking. According to WHO (2019), some families also

practice the ablation because of the social pressure; although they condemn this tradition,

they are afraid about the social consequences of not doing it Notwithstanding, this has

changed over the years: many families, especially women, have revolted against the

continuity of this problem, seeking the aid of associations, governments or simply other

women in the same situation. This anti-FGM movement has been expanding over Africa

in the last few years. As many other traditions, it is very complicated that it stops

happening. The prevalence of FGM is estimated to keep occurring for a long time in many

countries, but there are some which have abolished it due to the pressure given by other

countries and women. This is the case of Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and most recently,

Sierra Leone. In other countries, such as Gambia, the ritual is conserved but they’ve

abandoned ablation.

To conclude, the female genital mutilation is a practice that should be abolished

in all the countries which practice it since it goes against human rights. It causes pain,

depression, injuries, infections, extremely painful births and sexual intercourses,

bleedings and even death in millions of women. Also, it is a way of oppressing them,

because it is thought that they are not allowed to feel sexual pleasure. However, many

organizations are willing to improve this situation by trying to put pressure on the

countries where this practice takes place to stop mutilating women. For the time being,

their efforts have been paying off and justice has been done to many women in countries

like Sierra Leone, where ablation has now become illegal. In countries like Spain that

receive immigrants from the countries which practice FGM, many associations have been

created in order to convince parents not to put their daughters under such a dangerous and
 ARANTXA GARCÍA JUNTAS, ANTONIO CANO
LECHUGA AND IRENE DEL REY GUZMÁN

unfair tradition, and those who do it can face prison sentences. In many countries little

steps are been carried out to educate and to gain this fight for human rights, for this reason

Spain cannot be different.