Puntland's Minister of Female and Family Affairs Asha Gele Dirie today opened a workshop for the Puntland Parliament to discuss the plight of women in the region, and asked members of the parliament to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM).
The minister asked the Puntland's parliament to pass the bill as part of an international move to ban the brutal ritual worldwide.
“The Puntland government wants to take part in the international community and has an obligation to outlaw FGM in the world. You members of parliament should consider this as saving our girls from the tragedy which affects their lives and their futures. Within a few days, we will start an awareness campaign to discourage FGM," Ashe Gele Dirie said.
Puntland's Speaker of Parliament Abdirashid Mohamed Hirsi supported the minister's proposal and called for parliament and the local community to outlaw the FGM for the sake of humanity.
According to the World Health Organization,
Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later, potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of FGM.
It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15 years.
In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.