It is in Boune, in the department of Dakar that six girls aged between 7 and 9 years were victims, this Wednesday, February 24, 2021, of an excision that went wrong. They were taken to the Pikine hospital and admitted directly to the emergency room. The exciser and the mother of the girls were arrested by the Keur Massar gendarmerie and face prison sentences ranging from 6 months to 5 years.
The people of Boune were amazed to learn that six girls were victims of genital mutilation, practices that are totally punished by law in Senegal. The mother in complicity with the exciser almost caused the untimely death of these innocent women. Five of them, prone to complications, undergo intense care pending surgery.
Excision is now rare in Senegal. In the remote villages where it was regularly practiced, the awareness and training of women made it possible to put an end to this torture of girls.Moreover, the Senegalese law provides for a prison sentence of six months to five years against the parent or parents who have made donations, promises (…) given instructions to commit these mutilations. On the other hand, if it is a member of the medical profession who practices mutilation, then he incurs the maximum penalty.
Recall that excision is prohibited in Senegal since 1999 following the intervention of a group of women parliamentarians in the National Assembly. But clandestinely, some women still engage in these practices.
