Circumcision and Migration in the French speaking part of Belgium

This report is the result of a qualitative, explorative research, in the field of socio-anthropology. It investigates the motives and the mechanisms of continuation and abandonment of the practice, especially excision and infibulation, among the relevant populations from African origin, in the French speaking part of Belgium.

Data Collection

Author(s)

Dieleman Myriam

Year of data collection

2009 2010

Study population

- Adult migrants from sub-Sahara Africa, coming from countries where excision or infibulation is practised - Professionals from different sectors

Prevalence data on FGM

For 2009, GAMS reports on 179 mutilated women (or at risk of mutilation), who were individually followed-up by the organisation

Disaggregated data per country of origin

These women came from following countries: Guinea (133), Mauritania (6), Niger (6), Nigeria (5), Somalia (5), Djibouti (4), Kenya (4), Ivory Coast (3), Sierra Leone (3), Burkina Faso (2), Togo (2), Ethiopia (2), Liberia (1), Mali (1), Sudan (1), Tanzania (1), Chad (1)

Disaggregated data per age

The women followed by GAMS in 2009 were mostly aged 20-29 (62%), 30-38 (17%), 18-19 (13%), 15-17 (4%) or 40-48 (3%)

Limitations of study

- The respondents were recruited through GAMS as intermediate organisation. These people were already sensitized and sometimes active in prevention of FGM. This created a bias in the answers. - The research was done in French on the territory of the French community in Belgium (mainly Brussels and Liege). This means that results are not necessarily transferable to the Flemish context, and that people from English-speaking African countries were not included - Taboo and personal, intimate subject