The working practice we would like to present is a joint work done by: CidisOnlus, an Italian Ngo working with migrants, the Umbria Centre for the study and prevention of Female Genital Mutilations (within Fondazione Angelo Celli, a medical anthropology research centre) and ASGI (Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration).

In two of its Emergency Reception Centre (CAS), CidisOnlus was hosting, starting from November 2014, 31 woman asylum seekers, 12 of them were FGM victims. The woman are igbo speaking, mandingo speaking, dioula speaking of Cote D’Ivoire (dioula speaking). In order to support their process of empowerment and the recognition of international protection, CidisOnlusrequested the integrated intervention of the Umbria Centre for FGM, inaugurating a very effective collaboration, which opens up a totally innovative scenario in the Italian institutional panorama. I would now like to present you such practice with the help of the cultural mediator that was directly involved.

A. a 30 year old, mandingo speaking, married woman, with a strong desire to have kids, reported pains when urinating and stress related symptoms. Despite a check-up done at the local hospital that failed to offer a gynecological assessment explaining the symptoms, I was convinced that the woman was suffering the long-term complications of FGM: Urinary tract complications, Infertility, Psychological sequelae. I explained all to A. she opened up and said she was 7 years old when she had a cutting. She gave consent for new medical examination. I thus required a specific FGM professional advice to A.’s gynecologist.

This time the gynecologistidentified the FGMwithout assessing the type due to a lack of knowledge on the subject.A. needed recording of the FGM both to face her health problems and to obtain international protection, I then decided to contact the FGM Umbria Centre and ASGIAssociation for Juridical Studies on Immigration.

With their involvement,A.’s FGM official recording was presented to the Territorial Commission andA. was granted international protection in January 2016.

Together with the FGM Umbria Centrewe agreed that A. was not to be left alone facing her problem, she was infibulated: to the team working on her case that included the reception operator, the FGM Umbria center’s anthropologists and I, a cultural mediator that had already worked on A.was added.

The woman’s experience and wishes and her partner’s involvement in the process lead us to consider a de-infibulation procedure. This was done thanks to the FGM Umbria center’s network with local health services established when offering their training packages and experimented on previous de-infibulation procedures.The health services involved completed the process by providing A. a counseling service and a family planning intervention.

The 29th of April 2016 A. was successfully de infibulated and is now included in a SPAR project within she will hopefully be able to follow her family planning.

I would like to highlight some key points for a successful intervention:

  • put pressure on public health services to obtain official recording necessary for the recognition of international protection;
  • team work of professional with different backgrounds, experience, sensitivities and opinions;reception operators, health care professionals, cultural mediators, anthropologists, doctors;
  • value Cultural mediation and the culture of origin of the survivor;
  • take into account their living conditions in the present and in Italy;
  • sensitization of the partner and attention to the partner’s attitude.

Co-operation is ongoing: the FGM Umbria center is in direct contact with the health services and provides FGM recording for international protection applications, the ASGI is providing information on national and international legislation related to FGM, CidisOnlusoffers mediation services and supports empowerment process.

We were able to implement individual empowerment process, responding to the needs of victims of different types of FGM. Each of the 12 asylum seekers was provided with counseling, FGM official recording, de-infibulation procedure and individual documentation presented to the Territorial Commissions for the Recognition of International Protection and to the Civil Tribunal competent for the appeal, in the case of a rejection of the application.

The implemented process, merging cultural mediation, medical-anthropological and legal practice has proved effective in: promoting awareness on FGM and its longer-term complications on sexual and reproductive health, informing them on Italian Laws protecting girls from FGM and in letting them obtain the international protection status.