Create safe haven for Sabiny girls - MPs
Jul 13, 2009
THE equal opportunities committee of Parliament has asked the Government to build a boarding school to act as a safe-haven for girls of school-going age in communities that practice female genital mutilation (FGM).
By Milton Olupot
THE equal opportunities committee of Parliament has asked the Government to build a boarding school to act as a safe-haven for girls of school-going age in communities that practice female genital mutilation (FGM).
The MPs on Thursday instructed the education and sports minister, Namirembe Bitamazire, to explore the option urgently.
The move, the members said, was one of the ways to end the barbaric practice among the Sabiny and Karimojong.
“We are focusing on a special model school where vulnerable girls can be kept,†the chairperson, Anifa Kawooya, said.
“During holidays, girls who are in other schools but belong to these communities will also spend their vacation in the school.â€
The MPs said outlawing the practice was not enough.
Fred Gyabi (NRM) said the girls should be evacuated and kept in the schools, arguing that there were remote places in the districts of Nakapiripirit, Bukwo and Kapchorwa where the laws could not be enforced.
“Many parents do not want their daughters circumcised, but they can not resist the community madness. The only way to isolate the girls until they are of age to resist the practice,†he said.
Jalia Bintu (NRM) said: “We must find ways of cutting off uncompromising parents from their daughters. We have had cases where the Police arrest culprits but the law is insufficient to deal with them.â€
President Yoweri Museveni, launching a campaign against FGM in Karamoj, described the practice as brutal and backward.
THE equal opportunities committee of Parliament has asked the Government to build a boarding school to act as a safe-haven for girls of school-going age in communities that practice female genital mutilation (FGM).
The MPs on Thursday instructed the education and sports minister, Namirembe Bitamazire, to explore the option urgently.
The move, the members said, was one of the ways to end the barbaric practice among the Sabiny and Karimojong.
“We are focusing on a special model school where vulnerable girls can be kept,†the chairperson, Anifa Kawooya, said.
“During holidays, girls who are in other schools but belong to these communities will also spend their vacation in the school.â€
The MPs said outlawing the practice was not enough.
Fred Gyabi (NRM) said the girls should be evacuated and kept in the schools, arguing that there were remote places in the districts of Nakapiripirit, Bukwo and Kapchorwa where the laws could not be enforced.
“Many parents do not want their daughters circumcised, but they can not resist the community madness. The only way to isolate the girls until they are of age to resist the practice,†he said.
Jalia Bintu (NRM) said: “We must find ways of cutting off uncompromising parents from their daughters. We have had cases where the Police arrest culprits but the law is insufficient to deal with them.â€
President Yoweri Museveni, launching a campaign against FGM in Karamoj, described the practice as brutal and backward.