FGM performed on month-old infants in Tanzania

Young girls in Tanzania who have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) are not even aware that their sexual organs are not as nature intended, reports the Tanzania Daily News.

According to the World Health Organization, FGM can involve removal of the clitoris and cause severe bleeding and complications with urination, but many of the girls interviewed for the Tanzania Human Rights 2011 report assumed that is how they were born.

A small-scale investigation in the Manyoni district of Singida found that most primary school girls had been mutilated, but that they were unaware as the procedure was carried out during the first month of their lives.

Onesmo Olengurumwa, Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) Assistant Researcher, said that the LHRC now wants the government to conduct a study at household level in areas affected by the practice.

The Tanzania Human Rights 2011 report suggested that FGM was carried out at this early age to minimise the perpetrators' risk of prosecution