Female Genital Mutilation In Africa

            "Human Rights- is a complex phrase to define. One's idea of humanity varies in every culture; discrepancies are often found even within a singular culture. The United States Bill of Rights, adopted on December 15, 1791, marked one of the first attempts at standardizing human rights. One Hundred and fifty-seven years later the United Nations presented to the world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Not only did this document bring closure and clarity as to the basic meaning of human rights, it also provided code that each country could aspire to comply with. Today, the burden rests on the implementation of these rights for each individual around the globe.
             Procedures involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or injury to the female genital organs are termed either Female Circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation. Many feel this term circumcision is a euphemism is deem the procedure to be called by the more appropriate name, Female Genital Mutilation. "Mutilation- is technically accurate because most variants of the practices entail damage to or removal of healthy tissues. Yet, for most people, the term "mutilation- connotes purposeful harm and is tantamount to an allegation of evil intent. Female circumcision, however, incongruously parallels the practice to male circumcision, a practice generally considered nonmutilating. Thus, trivializing the amount of pain and damage brought on by the procedure, placing it in an inappropriate category. In order to assure a non-bias approach in this paper, the procedure will be referred to as FC/FGM .
             There are four different types of FC/FGM. Type I is Sunna, a practice involving the removal of the hood of the clitoris. Type II, Clitoridectomy (also known as excision), consists of removal of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora. This constitutes 80% of mutilations performed. Type III, Infibulation (also known as pharaonic circumcision) entails removal of the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora with narrowing stitching of the vaginal opening.