Burkina FasoAbout two weeks ago, fifteen girls aged 4 to 14 were subjected to the inhuman custom of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in a Burkina Faso village.  A 14-year-old has died; seven others are undergoing treatment for infections and haemorrhaging at a hospital in the national capital of Ouagadougou.  Several people have been arrested.

The 80-year-old woman performing the cutting and some of the girls' relatives have been arrested. They face a fine of up to 900,000 CFA francs (US$1,944) and up to three years in jail. Because the cutting resulted in a death, the woman faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Public officials who have been waging a social and educational campaign to eradicate FMG/C are shocked and discouraged by the girl’s death, the first death attributable to the practice in two years.

The CNPLE [National Committee for the Fight against Excision] and UNICEF say the recent death must not overshadow progress made in the fight to eradicate the practice in Burkina Faso.

The 2005 CNLPE study showed that the national prevalence of FGM/C had dropped from 77 percent in 2001 to 49.5 percent in 2005.

"We can't view this latest incident in isolation and say that we have failed in the fight [against FGM/C], because other evaluations have shown the practice is decreasing," the CNLPE's [Aïna] Ouédraogo said. "It is a belief rooted in the social system and it will take time to disappear."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 100 million to 140 million girls and women around the world have undergone FGM/C. Estimates suggest that three million girls – the majority under 15 years of age – are cut every year.

It was reported only last week that seven more cases of FGM/C had occurred in different parts of the country.  A 70-year-old woman was arrested for cutting a baby and a seven-year-old.  Also arrested as an accomplice was the baby’s father, an official responsible for monitoring FGM/C.

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