VZCZCXRO1613
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOU #0450/01 1561200
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051200Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5054
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OUAGADOUGOU 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/IWI AND AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KOCI KWMN PHUM SOCI UV
SUBJECT: FEMALE ECISION IN BURKINA FASO 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Burkina Fao has attempted to eradicate the practice 
of femle excision for over fifty years and officially outawed the 
practice over a decade ago; however, th prevalence rate among girls 
and women has not canged.  In fact, the Government of Burkina Fas 
(GOBF) recently announced that circumcisers and supporters of 
excision have developed a strategy to thwart the law by turning 
their razors to girls under the age of five.  Recent attempts to 
attack the demand for excision with information campaigns are 
yielding some encouraging results.  But Burkina Faso's efforts to 
eradicate excision will not be fruitful unless it starts to enforce 
its own laws by bringing circumcisers and supporters of excision to 
justice.  End Summary. 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2.  In Burkina Faso, excision is a cultural practice that is 
attributed to fertility, purity and loyalty, and it is practiced 
equally among Christians, Muslims and animists.  The procedure makes 
young girls eligible for marriage and gives circumcisers enhanced 
status in their communities.  In addition to the prestige, excision 
is a lucrative business for the female circumcisers and their 
families.  Circumcisers often pass their skills from mother to 
daughter, assuring that families keep their social and economic 
status in society for years to come. 
 
¶3.  Early attempts by French religious leaders and post-independence 
political leaders to eliminate excision met stiff cultural 
opposition.  In the early 1950s, describing the practice as 
"barbaric," French Catholic priests threatened to permanently 
excommunicate members who excised their daughters.  The majority of 
the population, however, dismissed the church's effort as a colonial 
attempt to rid Burkina Faso of its culture and values.  In 1960, 
President Morris Yameogo, Burkina Faso's first president after 
independence, attempted to outlaw excision by portraying it as a 
practice that stymied development and violated human rights. 
However, Yameogo quickly abandoned the effort when confronted with 
vocal opposition from local elders.  Finally in 1996, Burkina Faso 
outlawed female excision, making the practice punishable by up to 10 
years in prison and US$1500 in fines. 
 
¶4.  However, over the past decade, Burkina Faso has not seen a 
statistically significant decrease in the excision prevalence rate. 
The overall rate among all ages in Burkina Faso remains 
seventy-three percent today compared to seventy-six percent in 1998. 
 In addition, in January, the GOBF acknowledged that there has 
actually been an increase in circumcisions among girls younger than 
five because circumcisers are turning their razors to younger girls. 
 They prefer younger children because it is easy to hide babies' 
screams from unsuspecting neighbors and law enforcement personnel 
during excision ceremonies.  The percentage of excisions performed 
on girls younger than five years old has increased from twenty 
percent in 1998 to thirty-one percent in 2003. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Challenges to Eradicating Excision 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  One of the challenges to eradicating excision is the failure to 
reach the right stakeholders including men, religious leaders and 
political leaders.  Circumcision of girls in Burkina Faso rarely 
takes place without the permission of fathers.  However, portraying 
circumcision as a "women's issue" has led to the exclusion of 
important stakeholders and decision makers.  Furthermore, studies 
show that anti-excision messages are more likely to be received 
positively if it originated from a local leader, but mayors and 
parliamentarian representatives are often reluctant to advocate for 
the eradication of excision for fear of losing elections.  Moreover, 
Burkina Faso's effort to eradicate excision has placed greater 
emphasis on the supply side of the practice as opposed to curbing 
the demand for the service.  For example, to discourage women from 
performing circumcisions, Burkina Faso organized several 
"alternative employment programs," which provided circumcisers with 
training to gain new skills that would eventually enable them to 
engage in alternative income generating activities.  However, an 
evaluation of these programs revealed that they had missed their 
target audience and had enrolled mostly non-practitioners who were 
just looking for job training.  On rare occasions when circumcisers 
stopped the practice, the demand for services in some villages 
produced new providers, thwarting the small gains made by the 
programs. 
 
¶6.  Lack of funding is also a hindrance to the government's efforts 
to end female excision.  In 2008, the National Committee against 
Excision only received $60,000 from the state's budget.  As a 
result, the Committee relies heavily on volunteers to help educate 
the population and enforce the law.  For example, even though the 
GOBF has a toll free call center that can be used to report a crime 
related to excision, investigations are often carried out by 
volunteers because the Committee does not have the resources to hire 
 
OUAGADOUGO 00000450  002 OF 002 
 
 
law enforcement officials.  The lack of gendarmerie presence in 
remote villages also contributes to the problem.  There are only 22 
gendarmerie brigades in Burkina Faso's 46 provinces, and arresting 
circumcisers or investigating crimes involving excision does not 
rank among their highest priorities.  As a result, residents of 
large cities often go to remote villages to have their daughters 
circumcised in order to avoid being caught. 
 
------------------------------ 
Renewed Effort and Commitment 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7.  Recently, in an effort to reach audiences in remote villages, 
the GOBF has started training groups of men and women to carry out 
information campaigns throughout the country.  Through this program, 
the GOBF, with assistance from international partners, has conducted 
campaigns in 1,149 villages throughout the country and educated 
villagers about the relationship between excision and human rights, 
explained the negative health consequences of excisions and 
encouraged villagers to abandon the practice.  The campaigns 
included religious leaders and elders in an attempt to include as 
many stake holders in the effort as possible.  To this end, the 
Government of Japan has recently announced its intention to give 
$2.7 million to the World Bank over next seven years to work with 
communities and NGOs in Burkina Faso to conduct similar campaigns in 
additional villages to reduce both the demand and supply side of 
excision. 
 
¶8.  According to the World Bank's Health Specialist Tshiya Subayi, 
there is an effort to change the context within which excision is 
discussed.  Discussing excision uniquely as a women's rights or a 
reproductive health issue excludes a large segment of the 
population.  As a result, the World Bank is currently working on 
establishing a link between excision and economic development.  It 
costs the government more money to provide prenatal medical services 
to excised than to non-excised women and infant mortality rates 
among circumcised women are dramatically higher than non-excised 
mothers.  Ms. Subayi believes that establishing a link between 
excision and economic development could give government officials 
the incentive for stronger political will to end the practice. 
 
¶9.  While First Lady Chantal Compaore has remained the Honorary 
President of the Permanent Secretariat since its creation, she has 
recently taken a more vocal and visible role in the Committee to end 
the practice of excision.  In addition to chairing anti-excision 
campaign activities and recording public service announcements, she 
is currently serving as the Honorary Ambassador to Inter-African 
effort to eradicate female excision.  Her visible role in the 
Committee has led to an increase in public awareness of the issue. 
Furthermore, in addition to running an aggressive public awareness 
campaign on TV and radio stations in several languages throughout 
the country, the GOBF is considering adding lessons about excision 
in school to educate the youth about its detrimental effects. 
 
¶10.  Comment:  Even though the GOBF has increased its efforts to 
carry out more information campaigns targeting excision in Burkina 
Faso, it is unlikely to see a change unless it begins to enforce the 
law against the parents who seek to circumcise their daughters and 
the women that provide excision services.  Sensitization campaigns 
and establishing links between excision and economic development 
will not make a difference unless the population is convinced that 
there are legal consequences for breaking the law. 
 
 
LOCKARD