Let us join hands to stop FGM and make motherhood safe for all Kenyan women

Growing up in the 90s, the Ministry of Health had two memorable campaigns. “Aids Kills” and “Stop Female Genital Mutilation”. One would think with technological advancements, improved healthcare, a new Constitution and a law criminalising the practice, FGM would by now be a thing of the past. But why is it still being practised including in developed countries?

The law prohibits FGM under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act and carries a penalty of imprisonment of  at least three years or a fine of not less than Sh200,000 or both. Considering the persistence of the practice, this is a rather light sentence compared to the UK where the maximum sentence is 14 years in prison.

It can be inferred that in communities that practice FGM, their age old customary law and traditions take precedence over modern national laws.

HARSH PENALTIES

As a result, practitioners are prepared to face the harsh penalties to keep their customs alive. But is FGM really worth going to prison for? But the practice is not just a custom, it is a unique form of identity and a rite of passage. In some communities, those who are yet to undergo the practice are considered to be girls.

FGM becomes a way for one to be identified as a young woman and part of this elite group that is ready for marriage. But the question has always been: Aren’t there less invasive and more social, legally and culturally acceptable ways of being identified as part of a group?

FGM is also “gender-specific”. So, being a girl is a sufficient reason of being a victim. In other words, “but for” being a girl, one would not be selected as a victim of the practice. But what would be so egregious if the girl remained as she was born? After all, are we not created in the perfect image of God?   

In my view, the State continues to play a role in the continuation of FGM. State authorities make no active attempt to stop FGM or intervene to protect the children before the act occurs.

NATIONAL LAW

In fact, some of the patrons to FGM ceremonies are often people who ought to be upholding and protecting the national law by virtue of the public positions that they hold.

Sadly, as the community and elders continue to blindly perform FGM, the young girls who endure it remain voiceless with no say in the matter. Despite medical law progressing to allow competent children to give their consent before medical treatment, FGM has no regard for the girl’s consent.

It cannot be reinforced enough that medical research has shown FGM has no health benefit, only harm.

Of paramount importance is that the nature of the process is such that it can be inflicted only once in any female’s lifetime and it is irreversible.

Here lies the primary reason why the law prohibits FGM. To show the gravity of FGM, in a landmark case in 2006, the UK Supreme Court defined FGM as a form of torture and the harm sufficiently serious to amount to persecution.

PROTECTING GIRLS

The practice also contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, making it both a health and human rights issue.

Every single elected leader, most of who also happen to be men, have sworn to conscientiously discharge their duties and to uphold the law and the common good.

Part of these duties involves actively and consistently protecting girls in the areas that they represent from physical harm.

No longer should such elected leaders leave FGM to be addressed by health workers, non-governmental organisations and women. This is everybody’s problem.

ABUSE

The practice is a form of physical abuse carrying a risk of death. Over the long term, women who have suffered FGM are twice as likely to die during childbirth and three times as likely to give birth to a stillborn child. Are you willing to sit back and watch while a girl you have sworn to protect risks losing her life and that of a child?

You can never act retrospectively with Female Genital Mutilation, it will always be too late.

The writer works with international businesses on commercial litigation. [email protected]