State banks on new policy to end FGM by 2022

In the last two decades, significant efforts to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the country have been made through enhanced law enforcement.

However, despite these interventions by the government and stakeholders, the practice among some communities has remained relatively high.

According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), 2014, 21 per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 have undergone the cut in Kenya.

And despite a decline in national prevalence, the practice is still high in some communities: Somali at 94 per cent, Samburu (86 per cent), Kisii (84 per cent) and Maasai (78 per cent).

Hardly a week passes by without cases of FGM being reported in different parts of the country.

Last weekend, police in Bomet arrested 10 women at Roborwo village in Chepalungu during a crackdown on the practice.

Those arrested included eight women aged between 21 and 24 — who had already undergone the cut — a circumciser and a caregiver.

Their arrest came in the wake of another that saw 15 women rounded up at Kapsegon village in the same area. The women will be charged Tuesday.

AMBITIOUS POLICY

Two weeks ago, police in Thika arrested three women for subjecting four girls to the outlawed rite.

Thika West Sub-County Police Commander Beatrice Kiraguri said the arrests were made after a tip-off from the public.

It is against the realisation that the vice is still rife that the government, early this month, launched the "National Policy on Abandonment of Female Genital Mutilation 2019".

The government is banking on the new policy to completely eradicate FGM by 2022.

Speaking during the launch, Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia said the policy is anchored on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number five, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Prof Kobia said apart from seeking to end FGM, the policy also aims to promote education empowerment, eliminate early marriage, adolescence pregnancy, child labour, reduce risk of gender-based violence and HIV infection.

“In Kenya, the prevalence rate of FGM varies among the practicing communities, although the practice has been on the decline in the last decade. Consequently, the policy aims at building on this achievement to ensure acceleration in the eradication of FGM,” she said.

EMERGENT BARRIERS

The minister said that together with the Anti-FGM Board, they will provide leadership in the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting on the policy.

Gender Affairs Principal Secretary Safina Kwekwe said the framework is informed by the views of those involved in the implementation of anti-FGM initiatives, those subjected to and at risk of FGM, law enforcers, religious leaders, traditional justice systems in FGM practising communities and stakeholders involved in anti-FGM advocacy.

Objectives of the new policy include accelerating the eradication of FGM, strengthening multi-sectorial interventions, partnership and community participation in fighting the vice, addressing emerging trends in FGM and strengthening research and data collection on the management of FGM.

The government, however, contends that emerging trends in the way the outlawed practice is done is one of the key issues posing the greatest challenge in the fight against the vice.

They include reduction of the age at which the cut is performed, change in the type of the cut, increased demand for traditional circumciser services, secrecy, cross-border cutting and medicalisation of FGM.

According to the policy, the proportion of women aged 15 to 49 circumcised by a traditional circumciser has increased from 75 per cent (2008-2009) to 80.5 per cent in 2014.

KEY CATALYSTS

It also indicates that celebrations that used to accompany FGM are no longer there, with the practice largely changing to a private affair for most families. Girls also undergo FGM individually, as opposed to en masse.

It is estimated that at least 15 per cent of medical professionals perform FGM in total disregard to the professional code of conduct and the relevant laws.

The policy identifies rite of passage, religious beliefs and culture among communities, social norms, behaviour, economic and monetary gains as the key drivers of FGM.

It also singles out inadequate data, weak coordination framework, inadequate resources, weak enforcement of the laws relating to FGM, community resistance to the implementation of the anti-FGM laws and stigma as some of the challenges hampering its eradication.

The last three KDHS surveys - between 2003 and 2014 - do not capture all communities that practice FGM. The Anti-FGM Board is also yet to establish a data bank.

The government, according to the policy, is banking on the favourable legal foundation, prevailing political good will, community led approaches, strategic partnerships and media engagements to win the war.

RETROGRESSIVE PRACTICE

The Protection against Domestic Violence Act, 2015 classifies FGM as violence. The Act provides for protective measures for survivors and victims of domestic violence including FGM.

In an effort to win the war, the policy seeks to employ intergovernmental coordination, human rights activists, survivor centres and gender responsive approaches to address the scourge.

While launching the national policy, President Uhuru Kenyatta described the cut as an archaic cultural practice that assaults the wellbeing of individuals and society, and pitched for its complete eradication.

“FGM is a retrogressive practice whose continued existence in our country, in actual fact, assaults our individual and our national consciousness. The practice is inimical to our shared fundamental values as enshrined in our very own Constitution that we as Kenyans passed,” said the President.