TANZANIA

FGM AND CULTURE

FGM remains primarily a cultural rather than a religious practice, occurring across different religious and ethnic groups in Tanzania and with wide variation between different ethnic groups within the same region. For example, in Mara Region FGM prevalence is high among the Kuria ethnic group, but much lower among others.

In Tanzania, FGM is most frequently carried out by traditional practitioners (excisors) within communities, called Ngariba in Kiswahili. The DHS 2010 reports the person who performed FGM on the most-recently-cut daughter of the women surveyed.
Three out of every four instances of FGM (73%) were reported to have been carried out by traditional excisors (Ngariba), while 21.9% had been carried out by traditional birth attendants and 4.4% by other traditional cutters. Only 0.4% had been carried out by nurses/midwives.

While traditionally FGM was carried out as a rite of passage into womanhood and linked to brideprices, the trend among some ethnic groups (for example, the Nyaturu, Gogo and Maasai) is towards cutting much younger girls, and often newborn babies.
This reflects how the practice of FGM adapts to modern circumstances, including legislation and changing social perceptions.
In one region in Manyara (the Manjaro district), it was discovered that, after FGM had taken place, the flesh was being dried and sold as charms to traders. It was found that even old women were undergoing FGM to supply this trade.

Traditional excisors, Ngaribas, often inherit the position, with the right to being an Ngariba being passed down from mother to daughter within a particular clan. Ngariba are held with high regard in their communities.
In Singida, Ngariba are thought by some communities to possess supernatural powers.
They are also reported to be feared in the Tarime district, as community members recognise that, if they provoke an Ngariba, she may cut their daughters badly and cause even more harm.

Ngariba receive payment for performing FGM ceremonies, earning between 5,000 and 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings (US$3–6) per initiate. Payment may also be received in kind with bowls of millet and chicken or goats. Such payments mean that the continuation of FGM is often vital to the livelihoods of these women.
As the vast majority of traditional practitioners have not completed primary school education, they are often ill-equipped to find other means of income. This has meant that, while there is widespread knowledge of the illegal status of FGM, the need to maintain a livelihood encourages most practitioners to continue the practice. In addition, the Ngaribas are expected to pay a portion of their payment to the traditional elders.
Traditional birth attendants also perform FGM. A number of excisors are reported to have started out as traditional birth attendants before becoming Ngaribas. As traditional birth attendants already have an alternative profession, these women may be more likely to abandon the practice of FGM, when considering FGM purely as an income-generating activity.
However, this does not account for the complexities of individual economic circumstances or the strength of feeling for FGM as an integral cultural practice. Performing FGM may not necessarily be an income-generating activity – in many cases, excisors receive only symbolic payments.
The Process
- Historically, within the Nyaturu and Gogo tribes, the practice of FGM/C is linked with the circumcision of boys. The cutting of both boys and girls happened every June and July. This coincided with harvest time, so food for the celebrations would be plentiful.

It is also cooler at this time of year and it was believed that the cooler weather would lessen the bleeding and aid healing. There would be much celebration, eating and drinking.
The boys and girls would be cut on the same day having received training in a special place on how to live well, such as how to care for their family and community. ts such as a cow.

This would take place in a special camp where they would have white soil smeared on their bodies, which was changed daily. They would sing special uplifting and encouraging songs that would remind them they are no longer children. The boys would receive gif
The girls would be covered with oil afterwards, dress in new clothes and walk with a stick. When she met a male relative, she would put the stick down and not smile until the male relative gave her a present. Boys would similarly receive presents from female relatives.

Girls were not supposed to have sex for one year after being cut and told that any babies conceived as a result would die. Girls would receive gifts, such as clothes, shoes, money and beads, which would reach the jaw line. Without knowing they were to undergo FGM/C, girls used to be lured to the bush with the promise of honey, which was very attractive.

It was also reported that during the 1970s, a belief in lawalawa arose which led to babies being cut. Lawalawa was believed to be a disease of the male and female genitalia, which could only be cured by performing FGM/C. It was believed to affect babies as well as older children and adults.

FGM AND LAW

Tanzania’s legal system is based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts is limited to matters of interpretation.

Although the Constitution of Tanzania (1977) does not directly reference harmful practices or FGM, Article 9 imposes an obligation on the State to respect and preserve human dignity and rights, to accord men and women equal rights and to eradicate all forms of discrimination. Article 13 addresses equality further and states that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled, without any discrimination, to protection and equality before the law” and charges the State to implement procedures that take into account that ‘no person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment.’ Article 16 also states, “Every person is entitled to respect and protection of his person’ and ‘privacy of his own person”.

The main law criminalising FGM in Tanzania is the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act 1998 (SOSPA), which amended Section 169 of the Penal Code and prohibits FGM on girls under the age of 18 years.

Article 21 of the SOSPA does not give a definition of FGM; it inserts a new Section 169A(1) into the Penal Code prohibiting the performance and procurement of FGM as follows:

169A(l)- Any person who, having the custody, charge or care of any person under eighteen years of age, ill treats, neglects or abandons that person or causes female genital mutilation or procures that person to be assaulted, ill treated, neglected or abandoned in a manner likely to, cause him suffering or injury to health, including injury to, or loss, of sight or hearing, or limb or organ of the body or any mental derangement, commits the offence of cruelty to children.

Therefore, anyone committing FGM on a person under 18 years of age who is under their custody, charge or care will be subject to punishment. Failure to report FGM that has taken place or is planned is not directly addressed under this law.

In addition, the Law of the Child Act 2009 protects persons under the age of 18, and Article 13(1) makes it a criminal offence to “subject a child to torture, or other cruel, inhuman punishment or degrading treatment including any cultural practice which dehumanizes or is injurious to the physical and mental well-being of a child.”

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