Human rights defenders expressed hope the death of a 10-year-old Somali girl bled to death after a failed female genital mutilation (FGM) may help raise awareness about the dangerous health risks associated with the ritual in a country almost 100% of women and girls are cut.
Deeqa Dahir Nuur died from blood loss earlier this week after being subjected to female genital mutilation in one of Somalia’s few reported FGM-related deaths.
Reportedly Nuur died at Dhusamareb hospital two days after her family had taken her to a cutter for female genital mutilation in Olol village. “The circumciser is suspected to have cut an important vein” Hawa Aden Mohamed, the director of a local women’s right group known as Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development said. But by the time Nuur’s family realized they wouldn’t be able to stop the bleeding by themselves, it was too late.
Nuur’s death is one of only a few female genital mutilation-related deaths to have ever been reported in Somalia, a country with the world’s highest rate of FGM practice. But activists have said that just because FGM-related deaths aren’t reported doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.
AFRICA DIPLOMATIC 