Over 100 children examined for genital mutilation but no findings

Genital mutilationGenital mutilation

Since 2008, 120 check-ups of children born in Norway have been made to assess whether they had been subjected to female circumcision. None of them were.

 

Apart from one uncertain case, it was not found that any of the children had been subjected to genital mutilation in the forensic investigations made between 2008 and today stated Bergens Tidende, which has extracted these numbers from Haukeland University Hospital.

Chief physician at the Children and Adolescence Clinic at Haukeland, Claus Møller, has performed most of these investigations of children in Bergen. He says it is a false idea that this happens in secret in Norway or abroad .

– Some studies have shown that the child has been circumcised before the child came to Norway. But in the case of children born in Norway there have been no circumcisions, he says.

In case of gross genital mutilation, the person performing the procedure can be punished by imprisonment for up to 15 years. Parents may also be punished if it had been possible to prevent circumcision.

Akhenaton de Leon, General Manager of the Organization Against Public Discrimination (OMOD), says he has been contacted by several people from the Somali environment who have experience of being suspected.

“I’ve had fathers on the phone crying and saying the relationship with their daughter has been corrupted because the child is afraid of the invasive check and believes their parents will harm them,” he told BT.

He believes the concerns, which are the background for the children being examined, are based on prejudice and ignorance.

 

NTB Scanpix / Norway Today

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