fgm', were complicating eradication efforts. south africa while south africa is not listed among the countries with a high prevalence of fgm, the practice is present among certain communities in south africa. fgm is practiced among the venda community in north-east south africa, at about eight weeks or less after childbirth. it is also present among immigrant communities. south sudan female genital mutilation is present in south sudan, but its exact prevalence is unknown. a 2015 unicef report claimed 1% of women aged 15–49 had been subjected to fgm, but as of may 2018 there were no recent data confirming this figure. fgm has been reported to be practiced in some christian and muslims communities, and has been noted in some refugee camps in upper nile state. south sudanese law has banned female genital mutilation, but the government has not enacted a clear plan to eradicate the phenomenon. sudan the prevalence of fgm in sudan is 90%. until 2020, only six of the eighteen states of sudan had laws against fgm. in 2020, the new government of sudan of prime minister abdalla hamdok passed a law to outlaw fgm. before the sudanese revolution, the 32nd article of the constitution of sudan promised that the "state shall combat harmful customs and traditions which undermine the dignity and the status of women." sudan was the first country to outlaw it in 1946, under the british. type iii was prohibited under the 1925 penal code, with less severe forms allowed. outreach groups have been trying to eradicate the practice for 50 years, working with ngos, religious groups, the government, the media and medical practitioners. arrests have been made but no further action seems to have taken place. sudan signed the maputo protocol in june, 2008 but no ratification has yet been deposited with the african union. tanzania according to 2015–16 survey in tanzania, fgm prevalence rate is 10% of all women aged between 15 and 49 and 4.7% for those aged 15–19. in contrast, the 1996 survey reported 17.6, suggesting a drop of 7.6% over 20 years or unwillingness to disclose. type ii fgm was found to be most common. there are significant differences in regional prevalence; fgm is most widespread in manyara (81%), dodoma (68%), arusha (55%), singida (43%) and mara (38%) regions. the practice varies with religion, with reported prevalence rates of 20% for christian and 15% of muslim women. section 169a of the sexual offences special provisions act of 1998 prohibits fgm in tanzania. punishment is imprisonment of from five to fifteen years or a fine not exceeding 300,000 shillings (approximately us$250) or both. tanzania ratified the maputo protocol in 2007. as with kenya, tanzania 1998 act protects only girls up to the age of 18 years. the fgm law is being occasionally implemented, with 52 violations have been reported, filed and prosecuted. at least 10 cases were convicted in tanzania. togo female genital mutilation is practiced in togo. in a 2014 unicef report, the prevalence is 1.8% in girls 15–19. the who puts its prevalence at 5.8% in 2006. other sources cite 12% and 50% as prevalence. type ii is usually practiced. on october 30, 1998, the national assembly unanimously voted to outlaw the practice of fgm. penalties under the law can include a prison term of two months to ten years and a fine of 100,000 francs to one million francs (approximately us$160 to 1,600). a person who had knowledge that the procedure was going to take place and failed to inform public authorities can be punished with one month to one year imprisonment or a fine of from 20,000 to 500,000 francs (approximately us$32 to 800). togo ratified the maputo protocol in 2005. uganda road sign near kapchorwa, uganda, 2004 anyone convicted of carrying out fgm is subject to 10 years in prison. if the life of the patient is lost during the operation a life sentence is recommended. in 1996, a court intervened to prevent the performance of fgm under section 8 of the children statute, which makes it unlawful to subject a child to social or customary practices harmful to the child's health. uganda signed the maputo protocol in 2003 but has not ratified it. in early july 2009, president yoweri museveni stated that a law would soon be passed prohibiting the practice, with alternative livelihoods found for its practitioners. the anti fgm act 2010 is currently available for reference. the speaker of parliament ms rebecca kadaga recently gave sebei sub-region districts ultimatum to produce working plans to end female genital mutilation in the area. asia anti-fgm organizations in asia have complained that global attention on eradicating fgm goes almost entirely to africa. consequently, few studies have been done into fgm in asian countries, complicating anti-fgm campaigns due to a lack of data on the phenomenon. indian activist masooma ranalvi, who underwent fgm as a 7-year-old, was quoted as saying: "the entire discourse on fgm up to now has centred on africa. africa of course needs attention but maybe there are other places where the focus can be spread to." afghanistan female genital mutilation is present in afghanistan, mainly in south border connecting to pakistan. bahrain female genital mutilation is present in bahrain. there are currently no laws that expressly prohibit female genital mutilation and no data is available regarding the prevalence of the issue. however, there are recorded cases of various victims being at high risk of getting mutilated. brunei according to reports, type i and type iv fgc, including symbolic fgc and clitoral hood removal, are most likely practised in brunei. according to brunei's ministry of religious affairs, female circumcision—which involves the removal of the clitoral hood—is a "sunat," or required religious rite for muslim women. there are no laws against fgm, and there have been no major studies, but one researcher found it is performed on babies shortly after birth, aged 40 to 60 days. india the practice of fgm constitutes a criminal offense under the protection of children from sexual offences act, 2012; indian penal code, 1860 and criminal procedure code, 1973. estimates suggest 90% of females in the ismaili shia muslim bohra community in india undergo fgm. there are about 2 million bohras in india. in a survey, over 70% bohra respondents said an untrained professional had performed the procedure on them. female genital cutting is being practiced in kerala was found in august 2017 by sahiyo reporters. apart from the mental trauma, the women also said it also led to physical complications. on may 9, 2017, the supreme court of india sought a response from the centre and four states (maharashtra, delhi, gujarat and rajasthan) on the validity of female genital mutilation (fgm) when public interest litigation by some bohra women to ban the practice. on july 9, 2018, attorney general of india k. k. venugopal reiterated the indian government's position that fgm was a violation of a person's fundamental rights and that its practice resulted in serious health complications for the girl concerned. indonesia female genital mutilation type i and iv is prevalent in indonesia; 49% of girls are mutilated by age 14, and 97.5% of the surveyed females from muslim families (muslim females are at least 85% of females in indonesia) are mutilated by age 18 (55 million females as of 2018). in certain communities of indonesia, mass female circumcision (khitanan massal) ceremony are organized by local islamic foundations around prophet muhammad's birthday. some fgm are type iv done with a pen knife, others are type i done with scissors. two indonesian nationwide studies in 2003 and 2010 found over 80% of the cases sampled involved cutting, typically of newborns through the age of 9. across the sites, among all the children aged 15–18, 86–100% of the girls were reported already circumcised. more than 90% of families visited in the studies claimed they wanted the practice to continue. historical records suggest female circumcision in indonesia started and became prevalent with the arrival of islam in the 13th century as part of its drive to convert people to islam. in islands of indonesia, where partial populations converted to islam in the 17th century, fgm has been prevalent in muslim females only. in 2006, fgm was banned by the government but fgm/c remained commonplace for women in indonesia, which houses the world's largest muslim population. in 2010, the indonesian health ministry issued a decree outlining the proper procedure for fgm, which activists claim contradicted the 2006 ruling prohibiting clinics from performing any fgm. in 2013, the indonesian ulema council ruled that it favors fgm, stating that although it is not mandatory, it is still “morally recommended”. the ulema has been pushing indonesian government to mutilate girls, claiming it is "part of islamic teachings". some indonesian officials, in march 2013, claimed cutting and pricking type circumcision is not fgm. in 2014 the government criminalized all forms of fgm after it repealed exceptions to the laws. according to 2016 report by unicef, 49% of indonesian girls of age below 14 had already undergone fgm/c by 2015. iran fgm is criminalized by the islamic penal code of 2013. article 663 explicitly mentions the following: "mutilating or injuring either side of a woman's genitals shall carry the diya penalty equal to half of the full diya. mutilating or injuring parts of the genitals shall have a proportionate penalty based on the level of injury." article 269 of the islamic penal code of 1991 criminalizes "intentional mutilation or amputation" without explicitly mentioning fgm. national data on fgm in iran are unknown. various studies have been conducted on prevalence in provinces and counties, suggesting significant regional differences. fgm is known to be prevalent in four provinces: west azerbaijan province (mostly the kurdish populated southern part), kurdistan province and kermanshah province in the kurdish-dominated northwest, and hormozgan province and islands near it in the south. fgm in iran is primarily associated with sunni muslims following the shafi‘i madhhab, especially those living in certain sorani kurdish-populated, and to a lesser extent azerbaijani-populated, rural areas in northwestern iran, adjacent to the sorani kurdish-speaking regions in northeastern iraq where fgm also has a relatively high presence compared to the non-kurdish areas around it. there is strong disparity even within the kurdish communities, and the prevalence may differ considerably from one village to the next. unlike the iraqi kurdistan government, which has implemented a relatively successful anti-fgm campaign, official representatives as well as nationalist individuals or groups tend to deny fgm even exists in iran. in the southern province of hormozgan, fgm is mostly practiced by sunnis, but also a small minority of shias near them. the issue is rarely discussed in public; the national shia religious establishment claims it as an exclusively sunni practice in which it should not get involved, and generally sees no reason to try to end it. it is also rarely the subject of research in academia, with the government neither permitting nor funding any public engagement projects for the affected regions. in 2016, susie latham reported that fgc had been abandoned around the capital of the south-western province khuzestan in the 1950s. research by kameel ahmady (2005–2015) also revealed the practice had been abandoned in several other parts of iran, such as among shia kurdish women in parts of kermanshah and ilam province. some studies estimate the type i and ii fgm among iraqi migrants and other kurdish minority groups to be variable, ranging from 40% to 85%. 2014 prevalence of female genital mutilation in iran by province. 50–70% 15–30% no data; presumably below 1% fgm in iran by province province200920102011201220132014 hormozgan province––68%66%62%60% kermanshah province–31%28%25%20%18% kurdistan province–29%28%23%20%16% west azerbaijan province39%36%32%32%25%21% assuming fgm had no significant presence in other provinces, this would amount to a national prevalence of c. 2% in iran in 2014. fgm in iran by county countyprevalencenotessource ravansar county55.7%tahereh pashaei et al. minab county70%khadivzadeh et al. qeshm county7.2% (shia muslims)70% (sunni muslims)fgm in decline iraq prevalence of fgm in iraq for women aged 15–49 using unicef "female genital mutilation/cutting, 2013, from . more recent 2016 survey: . 55–65% 15–25% less than 3% female genital mutilation is prevalent in iraqi kurdistan, with an fgm rate of 72% according to the 2010 wadi report for the entire region and exceeding 80% in garmyan and new kirkuk. in erbil governorate and suleymaniya, type