Daughters of Somalia, a Continuous Pledge to End Female Genital Mutilation

In Somalia, over 90 per cent or more of girls and women, have been subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM. Despite the practice having devastating health ramifications for women and girls – including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death – discussion over how to end the harmful tradition, remains taboo. The United Nations […]
EU Envoy Recognizes GOL Efforts On FGM

The Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Liberia, Ambassador Laurent Delahousse, acknowledges efforts of the Government of Liberia in combating female genital mutilation, noting that every lost day is a broken life for many little girls in Liberia. Speaking over the weekend in Monrovia during celebrations of International Human Rights Day, Ambassador […]
Female Genital Mutilation Practice Still Prevalent in Oyo, Osun and Ekiti – UN Report

A survey funded by the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund), on the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Oyo, Osun and Ekiti States has shown that in spite of the gains that have been made in the reduction of the practice, its prevalence in the three states […]
Now I See the Light, the Story of a Reformed Cutter

She could cut 10 girls at any given time. In her village, were four other cutters serving an equal number of girls or more. For 20 years, Betty Kosgei was in the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice. She got two hundred girls bleeding from the swipe of a knife and then being married off. The […]
What Is Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

The fight against FGM seemed to be prominent in Africa. Or so I had thought. After all, as an African living in Africa, there is the tendency to think it is a problem with our people alone. However, when I discovered that this is not the case as it is also being practised in the […]
Somalia’s Puntland To Criminalise FGM

Female genital mutilation (FGM) will soon be criminalised in the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Somalia, Puntland. Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni and his cabinet last week approved an anti-FGM bill, Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) reported. Parliament is to debate and approve it, setting the legal ground for ending the vice that affects 97.9 per cent […]
Coalition of Child Rights Advocates Demands End to FGM, All Forms of Harmful Practices

Leading Child Rights advocacy groups including the Liberia Child Rights NGO Coalition, Liberia Children Forum and members of the National Children and Youth Advisory Board have called on the Government of Liberia to ban the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). In a joint statement issued recently in Monrovia, the rights groups called on the […]
Kenya Court Ruling Gives Boost to Fight Against FGM

Kenya court upholds a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) giving a boost to end FGM while one in five Kenyan women (15 to 49 years old) experience serious health problems Kenya’s High Court ruling upholding a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM) will give a much-needed boost to the fight to end the widely […]
Egypt Arrests Father, Nurse For Female Genital Mutilation Of 15-year-old

Egypt arrested a father and a retired nurse on Tuesday for carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM) on a 15-year-old girl, after announcing plans to toughen the penalty to 20 years. Police made the arrests a day after the crime was reported to the public prosecution by a doctor in a hospital about 35 km […]
FGM Not a Joke, UNFPA Tells Governors

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has told state governors not to take the lingering practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) as a joke. So, the global agency asked them to step up, within their domains, funding and sensitization programmes on the seriousness of the practice as an act of gender-based violence. Dr. Zubaida Abubakar, […]