Emotional plea by ex-politician Assita Kanko: "There are never, never, never apologies for genital mutilation" In "Alleen Elvis blijft bestaan" on Canvas, women's rights activist and ex-politician Assita Kanko tells about the lasting consequences of the genital mutilation she had to undergo as a child. Only last month she heard the full facts of a specialized doctor. She also makes a plea in the program to talk about it so that it does not become a taboo. Women must become economically autonomous, and be able to decide for themselves about their lives, she says. "If women can choose freely, they can make the best choices for their children." Assita Kanko (37), from Burkina Faso and active in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2001, is a former city council member for the French-speaking liberal party MR in Elsene. She writes books and articles and fights for women's rights. She was a guest on the broadcast "Alleen Elvis blijft bestaan" on Canvas, where she chose, among other things, a fragment of the French feminist Simone de Beauvoir. This blows up your childhood "Female circumcision" is too soft a description, says Kanko, she speaks about "genital mutilation". In Burkina Faso, three out of four girls are genitally mutilated. "I was five years old," says Assita Kanko. "This is something that distorts your childhood, something that breaks all innocent moments." From then on you have to be on your guard because you are circumcised, she adds. "Because you're a girl", the title of her first book from 2014. As a five-year-old girl, Assita Kanko was taken away by her mother with an excuse. In an abandoned cottage at a market she was taken hold of by older ladies and genitally mutilated. "The soil was wet from the blood. In the market, nobody responded to our calls for help. It was the biggest pain you can imagine and I even walked home afterwards, without any further explanation. " Clarity after 33 years Up to now, Assita Kanko never knew "how exactly they had mutilated me". She went to a doctor in Paris last month, who "fixes" many thousands of mutilated women, both in Burkina Faso and in France. "I wanted to know what exactly happened, what could be done about it and whether I am brave enough to do something about it." The doctor examined me and told me that I have a type 2 mutilation. I did not know that at all, it was a shock to me." The World Health Organization divides genital mutilation into classes: type 1 means that the clitoris is cut away; in type 2, the small and sometimes the large labia are also cut away. Type 3 means that the vaginal opening is reduced by sewing the fabric tightly. But also with a type 2 mutilation the tissue sometimes grows together, with terrible consequences. It was confronting, I was very sad and cried a lot when I knew it The doctor told Assita Kanko that she will never be able to give birth normally. She received her first child via caesarean section. A repair operation is rather serious: four hours of surgery and six months of recovery. She has not taken a decision yet. "I enjoy the days that things are going well and I have learned to like myself as I am". The personal story of Assita Kanko, which moved her as well as presenter Thomas Vanderveken to tears, is not separate from her struggle against genital mutilation, and her commitment to other girls. "I would not be happy myself if other women had not opened the way. Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Waris Dirie. " "No excuses" Worldwide, 7 girls are circumcised every minute. "People cut through their lives," says Assita Kanko. We have to talk about it, so that it is not taboo, but above all: women must become economically autonomous and be able to decide for themselves about their lives. "If women can choose freely, they can make the best choices for their children." Assita Kanko has another warning. Every cultural relativism is taboo, we can "never, never, never" accept excuses for people who commit violence on women, for genital mutilation or honor killings or whatever in the name of some religion or culture. In some East African countries, the practice of genital mutilation is on the way back, according to recent research, but not in Yemen or Iraq. And in Great Britain too, social services report a doubling of the number of cases in one year.