Female genital mutilation: medico-legal issues

The rising prevalence and severe impact of HIV/AIDS in relation to women still persists in South Africa. Both economically and socially the HIV/AIDS pandemic strikes women the hardest, with disadvantaged black women mainly at risk of higher infection. The theoretical framework of this paper focuses on the connection between HIV/AIDS, sexual inequalities and sexual violence, and more precisely, female genital mutilation, a cultural practice and custom which amplifies women's exposure to HIV. Pertinent to this focus is inescapably an analysis of apparent threats to precise essential human rights as a result of the continued use of the practice of female genital mutilation in South Africa.