Brussels, Belgium - A survey conducted by the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp, at the request of the Belgian government, shows that 6,260 circumcised women, most of them Africans, live in Belgium.

The survey result, received by PANA, indicated Monday that out of every five girl victims, four came from Africa, especially from  Guinea, Somalia, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali.

It said, however, that the victims did not have the operation carried out in Belgium. Rather, parents of such girls, after being turned down by Belgian doctors for fear of being severely punished, take their children to Africa to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).

Female circumcision is punishable by up to seven years in prison in Belgium. 

The survey was issued on the occasion of the World International Day against Female Genital Mutilations.

Pana 07/02/2012