Violence Against Women
Source: The Guardian
The five, including those who carried out female genital mutilation, were jailed for four years in a rare conviction since practice made a crime in 2010
Five men and women in Uganda have been jailed over female genital mutilation, a rare conviction in the country which is trying to stamp out the practice.
The five, including those who carried out the mutilation – which can range from cutting off the clitoris to the removal of the entire female genitalia – were arrested in eastern Uganda's Kapchorwa district last week.
All pleaded guilty to aiding or procuring female genital mutilation (FGM), which was outlawed in 2010. They were jailed for four years, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper.
Ugandan law makes it a crime to not only carry out FGM or participate in any event leading to its practice, but also to discriminate against a woman who has not undergone it.
While dozens of arrests have been made since the law's introduction, there have been few prosecutions.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said that although the practice was "dying out" in some regions, it was still considered "a tradition" in Kapchorwa district and many continued to practise in secret.
FGM tools. Ugandan law makes it a crime to not only carry out FGM or participate in any event leading to its practice, but also to discriminate against a woman who has not undergone it.
"The law has created fear within communities, you won't find them having these cultural days where families bring out their girls," he told AFP. "It is no longer a cultural event like male circumcision."
Florence Auma from the UN population fund UNFPA, which campaigns to end FGM, said any arrests and convictions were welcome.
"It shows the law is catching up with them and they're implementing the law," she said.
Apart from the intense pain itself, immediate dangers include bleeding and infection. In the longer term, risks include infertility and complications during childbirth, sometimes resulting in the death of the baby.
Earlier this month UN chief Ban Ki-moon backed a global campaign to end FGM within a generation.