Egypt parliament toughens penalties for female circumcision

Egypt is setting a good example for countries still practising the barbaric female genital mutilation, working to seriously increase the prison sentences for those doing it from the now merely three months to two years in jail to up to seven years of imprisonment.

As reported by Gulf News online, the new draft law explicitly states that parents subjecting their girls to the procedure face a jail term raging from one to three years.

This amendment replaced a previous one, asserting that individuals who are proven to practice FGM should be imprisoned from three months to three years.

In January 2015, a doctor in Egypt was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a 14-year-old girl died during a genital mutilation procedure.

FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 2008 but it remains widespread.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a Cairo-based rights group, welcomed the bill but said it may not deter people from performing FGM and could drive it further underground. The case was the country’s first instance of FGM prosecution.

The female genital cutting has been extensively carried out across many parts of the world, including Africa, the Middle East and even Asia. It causes numerous health problems that can be fatal. A 2013 UNICEF report found that Egypt has the world’s highest total number of FGM sufferers, with 27.2 million women having undergone FGM.

The government also proposes that those convicted be given jail terms with hard labor if the procedure leads to the death or permanent physical disability of the women being circumcised. “With a better law, it is now more likely that this can change”.

“Many people still link the idea of honour with female circumcision, so it is not about stiffening the law as much as addressing people’s mindsets”, said Reda al-Danbouki of the Egyptian group Women’s Centre for Guidance and Legal Awareness.