Morgan


 * Africa Debate **
 * Morgan Rutter **

**Name:** Mamani Keita

**Country:** Somalia - a country on the north eastern coast of Africa, with a population 10 million people. The main religion is Muslim.

**Background:** When she was 10 years old, a local woman circumcised her in the most severe form of circumcision, infibulation. Her genitals were carved out, and the leftover flesh was sewn together with a small opening for menstrual blood and urine. She then had to remain immobile and her legs were bound for 10 days. She realizes the horror of what happened to her and doesn’t want her 8 year old daughter to go through the same thing that she had to. She has become a stanch advocate for women's rights and stands firm against Female Genital Mutilation.

**References:** Equality Now - They see FGM as it should be seen, a violation of human rights based of inequality between sexes. They are a reference for her cause. UNICEF- United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund - They know how many children are affected by FGM and recognize the severity of it. They would back this cause because they already recognize the terrible situation in Somalia for girls. They want FGM to come to an end. World Vision- This organization would also support the fight against FGM in Somalia. World Vision works to make the world a better place for people all over, so they would back this effort.

BENCHMARKS


 * __Safety and Rule of Law:__ ** FGM causes a lot of diseases and complications and is the cause of death for many young girls in Somalia. Female circumcision is called genital mutilation because it is such a violent crime against women. But people in Somalia continue with this tradition even after facing the horrors themselves. Nearly 90% of women in this country are circumcised and it is even perceived as a bad thing to not be circumcised. These girls are unsafe. Children between the ages of 6 and 11 are being cut without their consent. Then they are subjected to more brutality on their wedding night when the infibulation scar tissue is cut open. The new law banning female circumcision is helping, but these women are still not safe.


 * __Participation and Human Rights:__ ** Human Rights are ignored when female circumcision is practiced. FGM is a huge issue because it takes girls, most of the time against their will, and changes them for the rest of their lives. FGM often times results in the child getting infections and diseases. It makes it extremely hard for the girl to urinate and causes great pain. Women and children die because of FGM. This unnecessary procedure is an example of the gender inequality in Somalia as well. The men of Somalia believe that women who are not circumcised are unclean and will refuse to marry an uncircumcised woman. This pressures young girls into believing that they need to be circumcised in order to marry. Some people try to justify FGM by saying that it is Muslim tradition, but these are empty arguments because Islam religious officials agree that it is not in the Koran and is not a Muslim belief. While religious freedom is a very important human right, young girls are being brutally mutilated because of a misguided belief, and that is a violation of their right.


 * __Sustainable Economic Opportunity:__ ** These women face long term medical issues that can hinder their contributions to the society. Since many of the circumcised women contract HIV or AIDS from unsterile materials, get deathly ill, or, in many cases, die, there isn’t as many women contributing to the country's work force or their revenue. Another important point is that FGM causes a lot of miscarriages, which limits the number of children who can grow up and contribute to this economy. Since women who do not get circumcised tend to be isolated and do not have the opportunity to get married, they have no opportunity, in this culture, to have children. This cause women who are older and uncircumsized to go and get circumcised so that they are not isolated in their community and have the same opportunities as the other women. The economic opportunities for this country would increase if they were losing less lives to FGM.


 * __Human Development:__ ** If the Somalian circumcisers had access to sanitation, less girls would contract diseases and die from the actual procedure. But sanitizing the equipment, the girls will have less risk of infection. While the overall goal is to eradicate FGM, an important step right now would be improving the conditions for unavoidable procedures, such as when the woman wants to be circumcised. The main thing this country needs is education. If the people were properly educated about the effects and the dangers of FGM, they wouldn’t be as eager to subject their daughters to this process. By educating the girls and the boys about FGM, it can become quite easy to help them realize that FGM is harmful and undesirable. The human development of this country in the relation to FGM would mostly concern the education of the masses. People in this culture also need to change how they perceive FGM. If the women who perform these circumcisions change their attitudes about the topic, the community will follow. It is necessary for the ideas of this culture to break away from the past beliefs. They must increase their knowledge in order to fully understand the errors of their ways. FGM often causes maternal mortality, with the woman dying unnecessarily because of the infibulation and having no choice but to give birth through a caesarean section. Since there are so many complications during birth for a mother who was a victim of FGM, there is a higher chance for her baby to die during or after birth.

-Mamani Keita As an advocate for Africa, I should receive the $5,000,000’s so that I can not only better my country of Somalia, but also change the life of my eight year old daughter and all the other innocent young girls who could be subjected to these terrors. Somalia is severely lacking in the rankings of African countries. This prize would help Somalia on it’s way to providing a safer place for girls to grow up, and grow healthy, without fear of being cut. This would help these girls stay confident, young, and bright eyed. This money would help provide the change needed in my country. It would go to funding health education for the children and also the adults. This money would also provide emotional support through forms of therapy for these young girls. I believe that by banning female circumcision our country took a huge step foreword. This prize is the push that our country needs to lay down a path so that the citizens can take a huge step foreword too.
 * Why should you get the prize? **


 * WORKS CITED **


 * "Education, Discussion Effective Tools to End Female Cutting [press release]." Africa News Service 20 Feb. 2012. Global Issues In Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] > **


 * Kristof, Nicholas D. "A rite of torture for girls." New York Times 12 May 2011: A29(L). Global Issues In Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] > **


 * "Law Against the Female 'Cut' Most Welcome [editorial]." Africa News Service 10 Sept. 2011. Global Issues In Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. < [] > **


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