EL ESPECTADOR, April 7, 2025
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
Colombia can make history. As described in a report by EL ESPECTADOR, our country is positioned to be the first to eradicate ablation, meaning female genital mutilation. We’re only two Congressional debates away from passing a bill that would accomplish that, and the bill was put together with the participation of the communities most affected, but it really takes a concerted effort to comprehend the magnitude of the problem. Because it’s a very delicate subject, the victims usually suffer in silence; the number of girls and adolescents who have suffered from the practice are under-counted; and there have even been people who lost their lives because of the lack of appropriate medical treatment. We need to take integrated measures, full of empathy and pedagogy, measures that permit us to protect the most vulnerable people.
Claudia Queragama, leader of the Emberá Katío Indigenous people, recently asked Congress to eradicate the practice. She explained the reasons to EL ESPECTADOR, and it was necessary for her to explain some very agonizing experiences. When she went to present her little girl to the community, they took her away, and when she was allowed to return, she had already been subjected to the mutilation. It was very moving, the way she told this newspaper how her ex-husband let her figure out what had happened. “He was asking me if I had authorized that; I was surprised and I told him I really didn’t understand what he was talking about. I didn’t even know what a clitoris was. How am I supposed to know about something that I never had?”
Queregama and her little girl are not alone. Although the statistics are precarious, the Health Ministry had 54 similar cases in 2024 and 91 in 2023. The problem is that all of the organizations indicate that we can’t have confidence in that information. The health system only reports the cases that arrive there, but many cases are unreported. In the worst cases, the girls and teenagers die of untreated infections; others grow up without even knowing they have been subjected to an act that will hurt their sexual and reproductive health, and that they have been put at risk of having many complications throughout their lives.
The recognition that Colombia gave to that practice in 2007 has helped the world to recognize that these are not just isolated cases. We recognize that there are victims throughout Latin America, because the legislative advances and progress in public policy that took place in our country can serve as an example. That, and because the cases continue to happen, is what has brought so much relevance to a bill that is now pending in Congress. Now we have to carry out pedagogical processes, allocate funding, and look for a way to get special attention so that this country can be a safe space for all young and teenage girls.
An additional issue has been whether we should turn the practice into a crime. The problem is that the people who carry out this practice are usually midwives; they are vulnerable, and because the taboo in itself means that in emergencies, they are not willing to resort to the health system for the necessary treatment. Applying the Penal Code, even though with good intentions, will create more obstacles that will keep the victims from receiving the care they need, and can deter the necessary change in culture. Colombia can be an example by providing modern legislation that shows empathy and leads to tangible changes. Let’s not lose the opportunity.