FGM Monthly Article – July 2022
Concern Over Increased FGM Cases Isaac Masinde, Narok County Commissioner Kenya News Agency By Ann Salaton July 20, 2022 Narok County Commissioner, Isaac Masinde, has lamented over increasing cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the County that has led the Anti-FGM Board to rank the County at position two in the country. Masinde said the County has shot from position eight in the past few years to position two beating only the neighboring Kisii County. The Commissioner said the outdated cultural practice has compromised education standards in the pastoralists dominated county, as many children drop out of school after undergoing the outdated cultural practice. He spoke at Olonganaiyo Primary School in Narok West Sub-county, where he called upon parents and residents to protect their children and educate them, as there were laws protecting them, noting that the government will not relent in punishing the culprits of FGM. Already, the County Commissioner said 30 cases have been prosecuted in courts of law since February this year, which includes a Chief who subjected his daughter to FGM. “The Chief’s case is already in court and if he is found guilty, he will lose his job and serve a jail sentence so that he can be an example to the many other families that intend to commit the vice,” reiterated Masinde. “The community should be vigilant and report cases of children missing school or those suspected to have undergone FGM so that we can follow up and rescue the children,” he added. Masinde urged schools to re-admit girls who had dropped out of school due to pregnancies, to enable them get basic education for the betterment of their future lives. The Administrator also cautioned parents against removing boys from school to go to seek casual jobs at the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, where they serve as tour guides. The Commissioner reported that the county has achieved 98 per cent transition from primary to secondary asking the community to take advantage of the free primary education programs in primary and day secondary schools. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Administration committed to ending the outdated FGM practice by the end of this year and asked all stakeholders to collaborate to end the...
Read MoreFGM Monthly Article – June 2022
Ethiopia Child Marriages Surge as Drought Hits Families June 28, 2022 Bloomberg US Edition By Antony Sguazzin A sand storm in a camp for internally displaced people near the city of Gode, Ethiopia, on April 6. Photographer: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images • Girls as young as 12 marrying men five times their age: Unicef • Four successive rainy seasons have failed in the region The worst drought in 40 years is reversing decades of progress made in combating child marriage and female genital mutilation across swathes of Ethiopia, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. In the first four months of this year child marriages nearly tripled in Ethiopia’s Somali province compared with the same period a year ago and, on average, more than doubled across three provinces, Unicef, as the fund is known, said in a statement on Wednesday, citing local data. Impoverished families are exchanging female children for dowries and because “it’s one less mouth to feed for the family,” Andy Brooks, Unicef’s child protection adviser for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in an interview. “These are not decisions families are taking lightly.” Girls as young as 12 are being forced to marry men five times their age and there is also an increase in female genital mutilation, which he said is a prerequisite for marriage. Prior to this year’s surge 40% of girls in the region were getting married under the age of 18, compared with 70% three decades ago. Now that progress is being undone and at the at the same time schools are closing and millions of children are dropping out. The drought, which stretches across a number of nations in the horn of Africa, including Kenya and Somalia, has seen four successive rainy seasons...
Read MoreFGM Monthly Article – May 2022
Cross Border Anti-FGM Campaign Report Zero Cases May 31, 2022 Kenya News Agency By Polycarp Ochieng and George Agimba The fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is gaining momentum as recent reports revealed that no girl child was subjected to circumcision during the March-April holiday. A follow-up engagement between the cross border Anti-FGM stakeholders from Kenya and Tanzania highlighted that measures put in place to curb the vice have borne fruits. In the first meeting which was held in Kenya in late January this year, the forum-based discussion was aimed at addressing the urgent unexpected surge of FGM in the March-April circumcision season. The engagement also saw journalists and activists from both ends coming up with strategies on how to curb the FGM along the border as well as finding both short and long time solutions to the vice. In the same forum, it was anticipated that mapping the suspected FGM zones, especially during the March-April circumcision season will be a major milestone to identify FGM perpetrators and suspected FGM homes in advance. Previous statistics from the Department of Gender in Migori County showed that a total of 50 girls were circumcised with over 200 being rescued during the December 2021 circumcision. This raised the fear that the number might be high in April, as some of the girls were sneaked across the border for the cut while at the same time some fled after the cut for fear of being arrested. In a recent follow-up meeting held in Tarime Tanzania on May 26 and 27, the revelations showed that earlier stipulated April cutting did not take place. This was a result of strict adherence to the outlaid strategies to curb the vice during the March-April season. Among success strategies used by both countries in curbing April-March cutting include mobilizing the community and enlightening them against FGM activities. In addition, the community was educated on strict adherence to Anti-FGM laws which prohibit carrying out the activity within the borders of the countries. This was in line with the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011 (FGM Act, 2011), which came into effect on 4 October 2011. For instance, since the interception of the FGM Act (FGM Act, 2011), the zeal to work together between Kenya and Tanzania journalists and activists has intensified and results are being seen. The recent engagement revealed that there has always been a problem of...
Read MoreFGM Monthly Article – April 2022
How female genital mutilation costs Nigeria dearly A portrait of Fadumo outside her shelter in Walala Biyotey internally displaced persons camp in Somalia. Fadumo swore that she would not let her children undergo circumcision after she suffered from the procedure. (Photo: AU UN IST PHOTO / David Mutua The Daily MaverickBy Alexandra WillisApril 7, 2022 Many African countries are paying a high economic and human cost for the continuation of female genital mutilation. One of those is Nigeria. Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is a human rights violation, a public health issue and has substantially detrimental economic consequences. It is carried out mostly on girls between infancy and the age of 15 and is a traditional cultural practice in many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It is also practiced in the US and the UK by immigrant groups. More than 200 million girls and women living today have experienced FGM. A quarter of global estimates of the practice of FGM occur in Nigeria. FGM has been outlawed by international legal instruments. It has been criminalized in 24 African countries including Nigeria. In 2012 the United Nations declared 6 February as International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. In 2020 the UNFPA-Unicef Joint Program, in its annual report Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation: Accelerating Change, recorded 154 arrests, 100 court cases and 47 convictions and sanctions internationally in connection with the practice. Despite its illegality, FGM continues, but appears to be declining in prevalence. In a 2020 statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the practice “a blatant manifestation of gender inequality that is deeply entrenched in social, economic and political structures” and “a human rights violation and an extreme form of violence against girls”. The rationalization of FGM In some societies in Africa, FGM is practiced as an initiation rite of passage of girls to womanhood, while in other societies on the continent, it is practiced with the avowed intention of protecting women’s chastity and discouraging them from being promiscuous. Reducing the propensity for sexual arousal, FGM is believed to inhibit promiscuous and/or extramarital sexual behavior. This belief provides the rationalization or the religious and/or cultural reasons for the practice. One particular reason behind the decision of families to circumcise their daughters in Nigeria is the family’s concern about the girl-child’s inability to marry if she is not circumcised. The reason is that many...
Read MoreFGM Monthly Article – February 2022
In Somalia, 100 mothers pledge not to subject daughters to female genital mutilationAfrican Business2/1/22 When Halima* was eight, she underwent female genital mutilation under the blade of her mother, a traditional birth attendant (TBA). “The procedure was painful, with no anesthesia. I bled for days,” she recalled. “I was in bed for more than three months and urinating was a problem.” When she reached adolescence, passing menstrual blood was difficult. As a newlywed, sex with her husband was painful. As an expectant mother, childbirth was excruciating with labor dangerously lasting for days. Despite her suffering, she allowed her first daughter to be cut. “My daughter underwent the sunna type of FGM (removal of part or all of the clitoris), and she felt the pain I have been through,” Halima said. But because it was not the more severe pharaonic type (stitching the opening closed), people insulted them, saying her daughter was unclean. Halima, 50, a mother of five daughters and five sons, now lives at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of the capital, home to 280 households that fled Danunay village nearly 250 kilometers away because of insurgent violence. She is also a camp gatekeeper, or a community member with influence. Which made her the ideal person to help end the harmful practice she and her daughter endured. By the numbers According to the 2020 Somali Health and Demographic Survey 99 per cent of women 15 – 49 in Somalia have been subjected to female genital mutilation, the majority between ages five and nine. The survey also reports that 72 per cent of women believe it is an Islamic requirement, though some religious leaders have said Islam condemns it. COVID-19 has raised the risk for girls to undergo the practice by disrupting preventive programs or with school closures that parents can use to give their daughters more time to heal. In 2020, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provided 52,225 Somali women and girls protection, prevention or care services related to female genital mutilation. While there is no national legislation outlawing the practice, Puntland state passed a FGM Zero Tolerance Bill last year. A new way forward As part of UNFPA and the Dear Daughter campaign, Halima and other influential women in the camp learned about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, and she shared her personal experience at workshops. “Throughout the training course, I had flashback memories of how FGM has badly impacted my life,”...
Read MoreFGM Monthly Article – January 2022
273 Girls rescued from FGM last month reunited with familiesThe Standard – NYANZABy Anne Atieno | January 6, 2022 Mr Charles Olwamba from Amref flanked by Mrs Robi Rioba (right) is addressing over 100 girls who were rescued from undergoing Female Genital Mutilation on December 22, 2021, at Nyangoge Mix Secondary School in Kuria West sub-county.[Caleb Kingwara, Standard] Some 273 girls who were rescued after they ran away from undergoing the female cut have been reunited with their families. This happened after the temporary rescue facility they had fled to was set to receive learners as schools reopen for the third term. The girls fled from their homes to avoid undergoing the female cut which is usually carried out during the holiday season, with the latest in December 2021. While addressing the press in Migori town, Mabera sub-county, children officer Jane Robi said the government and anti-FGM activists saved the girls from the vice in December. “Those who were reunited with their families did not undergo the cut,” said Robi. Forty other girls who had been placed under care and protection after undergoing the cut were taken to orphanages. According to Robi, the girls will be witnesses who will testify against relatives and circumcisers who are still in police custody. The girls will report to school from the orphanages until the pending ongoing court cases are determined. “Those who will remain in orphanages will help in the judicial process,” Robi said. She noted that two cases were completed after several people were arrested in swoops against the vice. On December 27, two suspects pleaded guilty to charges of abetting and failing to report FGM cases and were jailed for two years each, while four suspects denied similar charges and were released on a Sh500,000 bond. They appeared before Senior Principal Magistrate Anne Karimi, with the case’s hearing slated for February 14, 2022. Benter Odhiambo, an local activist said the Migori County government should move with speed and implement the SGBV (Sexual Gender Based Violence) policy document launched by Governor Okoth Obado in 2019 to curb rising cases. She said the civil society drafted the SGBV policy document, which included calls to build an SGBV rescue center and no more time should be wasted to save more girls in the future from being subjected to FGM. She pointed out that the county needed to invest in a bigger and more secure centre for girls who...
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