Sudan outlawed FGM, next...?

The number of girls undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the East African region has fallen drastically over the past two decades, a study published in BMJ Global Health journal in 2016 indicates.

The study, which looked at the rate of FGM among girls aged 14 years and below indicated that FGM prevalence in the region had dropped from 71.4 per cent in 1995, to 8 per cent in 2016.

Sudan has the highest FGM prevalence standing at 87 per cent according to United Nations estimates. It also indicates that about eight in ten Sudanese women have undergone some form of FGM. Girls are usually cut between the ages of five and 14.

Sudan’s announcement in April outlawing the practice is timely. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says most Sudanese women have been undergoing type III circumcision, the most extreme form where the inner and outer labia and the clitoris are removed.

Those found performing FGM face a possible three-year prison term and a fine under an amendment to Sudan’s criminal code approved by the government in March.

New government

Various organisations and individuals also lauded the move to end the practise.

“This is a massive step for Sudan and its new government. Africa cannot prosper unless it takes care of girls and women. They are showing this government has teeth,” Nimco Ali of Five Foundation told journalists in Khartoum.

Five Foundation campaigns for an end to genital mutilation globally.

Experts have, however, warned that the law alone is not sufficient to end the practice since many countries where the rite is practiced are enmeshed with cultural and religious beliefs, considered a pillar of tradition and marriage, and supported by women as well as men.

“This is not just about legal reforms. There’s a lot of work to be done to ensure society will accept this,” said Salma Ismail, a spokeswoman in Khartoum for the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) welcomed the landmark move by Sudan saying there isneed to work hard with communities to help enforce the new law. 

Raise awareness

“This practice is not only a violation of every girl child’s rights, it is harmful and has serious consequences for a girl’s physical and mental health,” said Abdullah Fadil, Unicef Representative in Sudan.

He added that there is need to raise awareness among different groups, including midwives, health providers, parents and the youth about the law and promote acceptance among communities.

The Unicef representative noted that his organisation is committed to eliminating all forms of FGM and would continue its focus on building a protective environment for children.

In Kenya where four million girls and women have undergone FGM and 21 per cent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years subjected to the practice according to Unicef, the government has changed tact in its fight against the practice.

In November last year, it launched the National Policy on Abandonment of FGM 2019, which it hopes to use in ending the outlawed practice by 2022.

Through the policy, the State has placed those subjected to and at risk of FGM, religious leaders, traditional justice systems in FGM practicing communities and stakeholders involved in Anti-FGM advocacy at the centre of the campaign.

The provincial administration among them chiefs and their assistants and the police have in the past, been spearheaded the fight against FGM.

High rate of FGM

President Uhuru Kenyatta while launching the policy described the rite as an archaic cultural practice that assaults the well-being of individuals and society, and pitched for its complete eradication.

In Tanzania, which also has high rate of FGM, the government has in the recent times accelerated the fight against the practice.

Despite the Tanzanian government criminalising FGM in 1998, 10 per cent of women aged 15-49 still undergo FGM. The government also changed tact and targets elders and female circumcisers who have been condoning the rite.

Thanks to the country’s FGM project dubbed Tokomeza Ukeketaji supported through the Trust Fund to end violence against women and managed by UN Women, 96 traditional elders and six female circumcisers in Serengeti abandoned the practice in 2018.

They committed to an alternative rites of passage ceremony that protected 634 girls who were supposed to have undergone FGM in the district.

Traditional elders

Amref’s Tokomeza Ukeketaji project manager, Godfrey Matumu, said the strategy to target traditional elders has resulted in achievements causing the affected communities to stop the practice.

“The abhaghaka-bhiikimila (traditional elders) are key decision makers in this practice. The communities here believe they communicate with the iresa (ancestral spirits), before they approve the cutting, which is performed by old women called abhasaari (cutters),” said Matumu in a past interview with journalists in Tanzania.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has supported Tanzania Police to establish gender and children's desks which have been instrumental in increasingcapacity to detect and investigate FGM.

The Masanga Centre, for example, established with UNFPA's support, provides alternative rites of passage where more than 2,000 girls have already passed through.

Sharing of information

The three countries seem to be taking the cue from Rwanda, which according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union FGM reportedly is not practiced in the country. Pundits argue strict laws and the government’s fidelity to the law could be attributed to the country’s win in the war against the practice.

According to UNFPA, FGM is practiced in at least 27 African countries, as well as parts of Asia and the Middle East.  In Africa, other than Sudan and Egypt, FGM is also prevalent in Ethiopia, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Djibouti and Senegal.

In 2016, the East Africa Community (including Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda) enacted the East African Community Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (EAC Act) 15.

The law aimed at promoting cooperation in the prosecution of perpetrators of FGM through harmonisation of laws, policies and strategies to end FGM across the region.

The EAC Act aims to raise awareness about the dangers of FGM and provide for the sharing of information, research and data.

Currently, five countries in Africa among them Chad, Liberia, Sierra-Leon, Somalia and Mali do not have anti-FGM laws which means FGM is still legal.