Pandemic derails anti-FGM drive

The coronavirus pandemic is jeopardising Kenya's goal of ending female genital mutilation (FGM) by 2022. Campaigners are reporting ‘mass cuttings’ of girls who are at home while schools are closed. One in five females aged between 15 and 49 have undergone FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia. A report on the allAfrica site notes that Nairobi criminalised the practice in 2011, but it persists as some communities see it as necessary for social acceptance. Domtila Chesang, an anti-FGM campaigner, said she had received reports of up to 500 girls undergoing FGM since schools closed on 16 March. ‘Parents are facing an uncertain future due to loss of income caused by the coronavirus, so they are having the girls cut and will marry them off,’ said Chesang. She added that ‘we cannot respond and campaign the way we used to as our movements are restricted and a lot of it is hidden’.

Full report on the allAfrica site