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CENTRAL AFRICAN

Guinea

STATISTICAL PROFILE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) refers National decree/legislation banning to “all procedures involving partial or total 1966 FGM/C passed (amended in 1996) removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”1 More than 125 million SELECTED STATISTICS ON WOMEN’S STATUS girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in and the Middle East where of women 20-24 years were married or FGM/C is concentrated. As many as 30 million 29% in union before age 15 girls are at risk of being cut before their 15th of women 20-24 years were married or birthday if current trends continue. FGM/C is a 68% in union before age 18 violation of girls’ and women’s rights and is condemned by many international treaties and of women 20-24 years have given birth conventions, as well as by national legislation in 45% by age 18 many countries. Yet, where it is practised FGM/C of women 15-49 years think that a is performed in line with tradition and social husband/partner is justified in hitting/ norms to ensure that girls are socially accepted 80% beating his wife under certain and marriageable, and to uphold their status and circumstances honour and that of the entire family. UNICEF works with government and partners of women 15-49 years make use of at towards the elimination of FGM/C in countries least one type of information media at where it is still practised. 67% least once a week (newspaper, maga - 1. Health Organization, Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation: An interagency statement, WHO, zine, television or radio) UNFPA, UNICEF, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNECA, UNESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, WHO, Geneva, 2008, p. 4. Source: DHS 1994-1995 and MICS 2010

Data and Analytics Section DIVISION OF POLICY AND STRATEGY HOWHOW WIDESPREADWIDESPREAD ISIS THETHE PRACTICE?PRACTICE?

Nearly one quarter of girls and women have experienced FGM/C in , with variations by ethnicity and

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C, by ethnicity and religion who have undergone FGM/C, by préfecture

100

80

60 53

40 24 25 24 24 23 21 20 3 0 Less than 10% 10% - 20% 26% - 50% Total Ethnic group Other Muslim Roman No Other Catholic religion religion 51% - 80% Above 80% with highe st with lowest prevalenc e prevalence

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergonePercentage FGM/C (as reportedof girls and by womentheir ), aged 15-49 by yearsAmong daughters of cut girls and women, the percentage of girls aged residence, 's and householdwho wealth have quintilehad FGM/C, by préfecture 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM/C (as reported by their mothers), by mothers' attitudes about whether the practice should continue

50 50

40 40

30 30

20 20 9 10 10 5 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 0.4 0.2 0 0 Daughters whose Daughters whose Daughters whose Daughters whose Total Rural Urban No Primary Secondary Poorest Richest mothers think mothers say it mothers are mothers think education complete or higher FGM/C should depends unsure FGM/C should continue stop

WHENWHEN ANDAND HOWHOW ISIS FGM/CFGM/C PERFORMED? PERFORMED?

Approximately half of girls were cut between the ages of ten and fourteen

PPercentage distribution of girls aged15-49 0 to 14years years who who have have at undergoneleast one daughter FGM/C (aswho reported has had by FGM/C, their mothers), by place ofby residence age at which and cumother'stting occurred education

0-4 years

5-9 years

10-14 years 2 28 52 11 7

15+ years

Don’t know/ Missing Source: MICS 2006 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percentage distribution of girls 0 to 14 years who have Notes: The boundaries and the names shown and the designations PercentagePercentage distribution distribution of girls of aged most 0 recentlyto 14 years cut who have used on the map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance undergonedaughters, FGM/C (as by reported daughter's by theirage atmothers), cutting according undergone FGM/C (as reported by their mothers), by type of by the . Only categories with 25 or more unweighted to the type of person/practitioner performing the procedure FGM/C performed cases are presented. Due to rounding, some of the data presented may not add up to 100 per cent. Prevalence data for girls aged 0 to 1 14 reflect their current, but not final, FGM/C status since some girls Cut, no flesh who have not been cut may still be at risk of experiencing the Health personnel removed/Nicked practice once they reach the customary age for cutting. Therefore, 10 9 the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is actually an 6 Cut, flesh underestimation of the true extent of the practice. Since age at Traditional 24 removed cutting varies among settings, the amount of underestimation also practitioner varies and this should be kept in mind when interpreting all FGM/C Sewn closed prevalence data for this age group. Older data are used to report Don’t know/ on age at cutting since data from the most recent survey includes Missing some girls aged 0 to 14 years who have not undergone FGM/C but Type not are still at risk of experiencing the practice once they have reached the customary age for cutting. ‘Health personnel’ includes doctors, determined/Not 89 61 nurses, midwives and other health workers; ‘Traditional practitioner’ sure/Don’t know includes traditional circumcisers, traditional birth attendants, traditional midwives and other types of traditional practitioners.

Source for all charts on this page: MICS 2010, unless otherwise noted WHAT ARE THE PREVAILING ATTITUDES TOWARDS FGM/C?

Three out of four women in Central African Republic think the practice of FGM/C should stop

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C, by their attitudes about whether the practice should continue

Think FGM/C should continue Think FGM/C should stop Say it depends/are not sure

11 75 14

0 20 40 60 80 100

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C and think the practice should continue, by household wealth quintile, education, ethnicity and age

50

40

30

20 17 19 15 14 11 12 10 10 6 5 3 0 Total Poorest Richest No education Primary Secondary or Ethnic group Ethnic group 15-19 years 45-49 years complete higher with highest with lowest support support Source for all above charts: MICS 2010

IS THE PRACTICE OF FGM/C CHANGING?

Both the prevalence of FGM/C and support for the practice have declined sharply over time

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C, by current age

50

40 34 30 28 30 26 25 22 18 20

10

0 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 Source: MICS 2010 Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C, and percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C and think the practice should continue

Prevalence of FGM/C Think FGM/C should continue 100

80

60 43 40 36 30 26 22 24 20 14 11

0 DHS 1994-1995 MICS 2000 MICS 2006 MICS 2010 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

INTER-COUNTRY STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have undergone FGM/C

100 96 98 91 93 88 88 89 89

80 74 76 76 69 66 60 50 44 40 38 27 27 24 26 20 17 13 15 8 1 1 2 4 4 0

Iraq Gambia Côte d'Ivoire CentralRepublic African Unitedof RepublicTanzania Guinea-

Percentage of girls aged 0 to 14 years who have undergone FGM/C (as reported by their mothers)

100

80

60 54 56

40 37

24 24 18 20 13 13 14 15 10 0.4 1 1 1 0

Togo Egypt Sudan Ghana Uganda Nigeria Yemen Senegal Ethiopia Gambia Mauritania Côte d'Ivoire Sierra Leone Burkina Faso CentralRepublic African

Percentage of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years who have heard about FGM/C and think the practice should continue

100

80 73 69 64 65 66 60 54 49 45 41 41 42 38 40 37 31 34 21 17 20 14 9 9 10 11 5 6 7 1 2 2 3 0

Iraq Togo Niger Chad Mali Benin Ghana Kenya Yemen Sudan Liberia Eritrea Egypt Uganda Senegal Nigeria Ethiopia Djibouti Gambia Somalia Guinea Cameroon Mauritania Burkina Faso Côte d'Ivoire Sierra Leone Unitedof RepublicTanzania CentralRepublic African Guinea-Bissau

Notes: Data on attitudes for Yemen refer to ever-married girls and women. In Liberia, girls and women who have heard of the were asked whether they were members; this provides indirect information on FGM/C since it is performed during initiation into the society. Egypt data refer to girls aged 0-17 years who have undergone FGM/C. Data on attitudes for Ghana are from MICS 2006, for Nigeria from DHS 2008, and for Sierra Leone from DHS 2008 as data from the most recently available MICS surveys are not comparable. In Liberia, only cut girls and women were asked about their attitudes towards FGM/C; since girls and women from practising communities are more likely to support the practice, the level of support in this country as captured by the DHS 2007 is higher than would be anticipated had all girls and women been asked their opinion.

Sources: DHS, MICS, National Social Protection Monitoring Survey, SHHS and Welfare Monitoring Survey, 1997-2012 Released 2013

These country profiles were made possible through core funding to UNICEF and financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of these country FOR MORE INFORMATION profiles are the sole responsibility of UNICEF and can in no way reflect the views Data and Analytics Section - Division of Policy and Strategy of the European Union. UNICEF, 3 UN Plaza, New York, 10017 The Data and Analytics Section gratefully acknowledges inputs shared by UNICEF country offices. Website: www.childinfo.org Email: [email protected]