Female Genital Mutilation in Togo

Fauziya Kassindja fled from Togo to avoid undergoing the female genital mutilation (FGM) and entering into a forced marriage with a polygamous man. FGM is practiced as an obligatory custom in many of the tribes within Togo. FGM is required for a female to enter into a marriage in these tribes, where there are limited alternative options for survival. Not only does FGM degrade women, but it also often results in health problems and sometimes even death. Forced marriage is a custom in Togo and polygamy is accepted under Islamic law. The few fortunate women, like Fauziya, who are able to flee the country to avoid FGM face problems with receiving asylum because persecution, such as FGM and polygamy, that only affects women is not widely accepted as a reason for the granting of asylum.

FGM is a custom among some of the tribes of Togo. FGM is performed to cleanse the women before entering the house of her husband. Women in Togo are usually circumcised when they reach the age of 15 or earlier if they are married off. Despite the fact that the mother has been through this painful procedure, they often willingly allow their daughters to undergo it and in even encourage FGM, as it is seen as a part of their culture that cannot be changed. Although, FGM is a way of males controlling women's sexuality, women are often the ones that perform the procedure.

There are many health consequences of undergoing FGM, especially since it is mostly performed in communities that lack proper health facilities. It is done without anesthesia or antibiotics. (1) FGM is one of the ways AIDS is being spread in Africa. FGM is often performed on several girls one after the other. Since many of the areas where it is performed lack the resources to use a sterilized blade every time if one girl has AIDS her blood can be spread from the blade and the hands of those performing the procedure to the girls that undergo the procedure after her. Bleeding to death is another possible consequence to those that undergo the procedure. Other adverse health consequences of FGM are scarring, infertility, painful sexual intercourse, long and obstructed labor, chronic uterine and vaginal infections, bladder incontinence, and the obstruction of the flow of menstrual blood. (2)

Forced or arranged marriages are widespread in Togo. Polygamy is also a common and accepted practice in Muslim communities of Togo. According to Muslim law, if you have the means and think you can treat all wives equally, you can take as many as four wives. (3) Although it is allowed, there are theoretically safeguards to ensure that the women are treated fairly by their husband. In practice husbands many have a favorite and pay unequal attention to his wives. Becoming the last wife, as Fauziya was to become if she stayed in Togo in the worse place in a polygamous marriage. The last wife is the servant to all the older wives and their children. (4)

Few girls of tribes that practice FGM are able to escape the procedure as it is required to enter into a marriage and there is little other way of survival for a woman in these cultures other than marriage. A few girls are able to escape the practice and remain in Togo if their husband or father is powerful enough to reject the practice or by marrying a man from a tribe that does not practice FGM. Even smaller amounts have the means to go far enough away to avoid the authorities. Fauziya Kassindja was one of the few that were able to escape the practice at first through her father's rejection of this custom and after his death by fleeing to the United States, but she faced almost equal health consequences while seeking asylum in the United States.

While waiting for her asylum hearing and appeal she spent most of her time in prison under the same and sometimes worse conditions than American criminals. In her hearing she was denied asylum because she was determined to not be in danger of persecution if she returned to Togo. According to him FGM was not a form of persecution because it is an accepted norm in her culture. The judge was convinced that the government in Togo could protect her from her tribal customs, as FGM was not a government practice like sterilization in China was. He believed she could have received help from the police, but in fact the police were searching for her to return her to her husband as his property.

Fauziya Kassindja fled the common customs of FGM and polygamy that were practiced in her tribe because she felt persecuted by them. The main concern of undergoing FGM was the immediate and long-term health consequences of the procedure. Forced marriage and polygamy were forms of persecution as she was being forced against her will and as long as she remained in Togo she was her so-called husband's property. Fauziya was able to escape to the United States with the help of the money left to her mother when her father died. Once in the United States and after many months in jail being treated as a criminal she had her asylum hearing. In the hearing asylum was not granted as FGM and forced polygamous marriage, both persecution unique to women, were not considered to be a form of persecution that could not be escaped while remaining in Togo. The judge believed the government in Togo could protect her, but in fact the government was looking to return her as property of her husband.

Endnotes

1. Fauziya Kasinga, In Exclusion Proceedings: Brief for Respondent (December 4, 1995) 31.
2. Kasinga, 31.
3. Fauziya Kassindja and Layli Miler Bashir, Do They Hear You When You Cry, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1998) 61.
4. Kasinga, 45.