BY GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY CORRESPONDENT
29th December 2013
The centre is a primary school, converted into a girls and young women support centre, the Executive Director for the local child rights organization operating in the region, Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF), Koshuma Mtengeti, said.
He told The Guardian on Sunday over the weekend that to date over 1,000 girls were expected to flee from their homes in Tarime District alone for fear of forceful FGM.“In Tarime alone over 1000 girls were forced by their families and peers to line up for FGM as part of the rite of passage to become rightful and respected women in the society.”
He said already this year’s circumcision list has been announced by the Traditional Leaders of the Kurya Ethnic Group where, based on their ages, many young girls have found ‘they are in the season’s list for FGM.”
Mtengeti said most of the girls were unable to resist the social pressure unless they fled from homes to seek shelter somewhere else.
“To date 420 girls, some as young as 10 years, have travelled miles to the Masanga Centre, a refuge run by Catholic Sisters in Tarime District to seek shelter from FGM.
“Majority of these girls have run far away with the consent of their parents who have little power to resist tradition and social pressure to continue the practice,” he said.
“This year we have had unprecedented numbers. This is a direct result of our ongoing community awareness raising and advocacy action. Many more are coming and we are not able to feed the girls who will be in the camp for a month.
“The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA, Tanzania), Forward UK and Tarime District Authority have provided most of the support we have for the girls, but we need more political support and security for the girls,” Mtengeti stated in an urgent appeal.
He said since 2008 more than 1,000 girls sought refuge in the centre and each year the numbers increased, but not all of them would be able to return home for fear of being forced into FGM by their families.
A new study from UNICEF released in July this year estimates that 7.9 million women above 15 years have undergone FGM in Tanzania, and the country has made some progress in reducing the practice.
However, the mutilation is endemic in many regions including Mara with the practice seeming to increase.
“FGM is endemic in many parts and seems to be on the increase in Mara Region as a result of entrenched traditional norms which are enforced by the traditional elders and pressure from community members,” he said.
Forward UK Executive Director, Naana Otoo Oyortey, speaking on the situation, said: “FGM has been illegal in Tanzania since 1998 and the government has developed an action plan on FGM.
“However, this is mainly on paper and there is little effort to implement the law by the Tanzanian government.”
“As a result millions of girls are still at risk of FGM in 2012, the local government and police Gender Taskforce was very proactive but this year, elections are around the corner and as such there is little appetite to antagonise the traditional leaders.
At a meeting held last year with the Traditional Leaders in Tarime, they noted that FGM has now been modernised to avoid the harm.
Mwita Nyasibora, the Secretary of the Butimbaru clan noted: “In the past, everything was being cut but it is not the case at the moment, only a small inch is removed.”
However, these traditional leaders have a strong stake in the continuation of FGM, since they benefit directly from proceeds paid by girls who undergo FGM.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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