ActionAID Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has said 50 per cent of girls below 15 years in the Bawku Municipality had undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Mr. Kusi Boama, Upper East Regional Programme Manager of ActionAID Ghana, said studies conducted by the NGO indicated that perpetrators of the act, in order to evade the law, sent girls to neighboring communities in Burkina Faso and Togo to carry out FGM.

He announced this during the commemoration of the AU Day of the child, which was on a local theme, “FGM is a Human Rights Abuse, stop it.”

Mr. Boama said FGM and other obsolete customary practices in the Upper East Region retarded the development of girls.

He said the NGO in collaboration with Bawku Women Development Association had facilitated the formation of Community Anti Violence Teams in 12 communities and girl child clubs in schools, to report to the appropriate agencies the perpetration of FGM and other harmful acts.

Mr. Haruna Alhassan, Bawku Municipal Officer of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, said FGM was discriminatory and the violation of the rights of girls.

He said, Government had enacted appropriate legislations to protect the child from all forms of physical or moral exploitation, including sexual abuse.

Poanaba Asugura, queenmother of Pusiga, condemned FGM and warned that parents who would surrender their girls for the practice would be dealt with according to the law.

Mr. Williams Asufala, Assembly Member for Mandago asked his colleagues to support the campaign against FGM and other obsolete traditional practices.

The programme was attended by school children, assembly members, traditional rulers, health workers and traditional birth attendants among others.**