Ritual mutilation between tradition and law: juridical aspects

Abstract

The mgf expression refers to ritual practices, such as lesions of the body, found mainly in Africa, related to the interpretations of cultural/religious principles which have based their own legal and social legitimacy. It has became an official word, in international documents, just starting from 1990, with a negative meaning strongly supported by Western culture. At first those has been considered as dangerous methods according to a medical-sanitary opinion, then as a serious violation of women’s and girls’ rights. In Italy the specific offense has been granted by a law in 2006 and there is just one case law processed by the Court of Verona in 2010. This matter focuses on the most significant issues of the current policies in a multicultural society with reference to the value that the legal system must give to cultural conditioning on people for criminal conducts due to membership. It must underline that these cases involve the most serious crime of permanent and irreversible injury against children, made by their legal guardians, in the name of alleged cultural-religious principles, which should have no place in a secular state.