-Holds dialogue on its health consequences
By Jerromie S. Walters
The World Health Organization (WHO), UN Women, along with the Ministry of Health and other key partners, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, held a panel discussion on the health implications of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to strengthen advocacy for its eradication.
During the event, Dr. Louise Kpoto, the Minister of Health, emphasized the harmful nature of FGM and its wide-ranging consequences, which include adverse health effects and emotional trauma.
Minister Kpoto underscored the need for intensive advocacy efforts to bring an end to the practice of FGM, highlighting engagements with traditional leaders and community dialogues aimed at raising awareness about the harmful effects associated with FGM.
Drawing from her experience as a medical practitioner, Minister Kpoto shared poignant accounts of the suffering endured by FGM survivors, including instances of abandonment by partners and emotional distress.
Emphasizing the urgent need for action, Minister Kpoto urged the panelists to deliberate on key issues surrounding FGM that could be leveraged in advocacy efforts, calling for decisive steps such as a legislative ban on FGM in Liberia.
Providing an overview of the event, Madam Laura Golakeh, the Deputy Minister of Gender, spoke eloquently on behalf of Minister Gbeme Horace-Kollie emphasizing the crucial need for partners and stakeholders to be proactive in combatting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Madam Golakeh highlighted the persistent nature of FGM as a deeply-rooted cultural tradition and a form of violence against women and girls, impacting nearly 200 million individuals worldwide. She underscored the immediate and enduring health risks associated with the practice, including infections, excruciating pain, severe complications, and even fatalities.
She indicated that this practice is recognized internationally as a human rights violation and it reflects a deep-rooted gender equality and extreme form of discrimination against women and girls emphasizing that it is the men who make the law and women and girls are expected to abide by the law. Additionally, Madam Golakeh said in Liberia it is reported that 31.8 %of Liberian women and girls continue to live with the consequences of FGM, and many of them who have gone through the practice were forcefully initiated.
“There are a lot of instruments calling on state parties, organizations, and communities to take action to end this practice in different countries. To further make a call for the abolishment of FGM the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on December 20, 2012, calling on all state actors, civil society organizations, stakeholders, and partners to observe February 6 each year as International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM. This resolution seeks to intensify global efforts to end FGM and raise awareness of the practice,” she added.
Further speaking, the Deputy Minister of Gender said in 2018 a one-year ban was placed on FGM in Liberia through an executive order issued by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf but it was very limited because it says if the girl is above 18 years and consent to participate in the process she is free to do it.
“Serious policy suspending the practice was adopted by the National Council of Traditional Chiefs and Elders in June 2019 to February 2022 and in February 2022 Chief Zanzan Karwa banned the practice throughout Liberia during the observance of the International FGM day,”.
She continued that the panel discussion is to talk about how they can elevate the conversation on FGM as well as the executive order to an actual law that will ban the practice. She said the outcome of the dialogue will be used by advocates of FGM, international partners, and the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Gender to enhance their work in the field as it relates to banning FGM.
“This discussion will help to strengthen our work in the communities and to give us more weight as a Ministry and partners so that we can continue to engage community leaders to ensure that the practice is banned for good,” she said.
For her part, UN Women’s Country Representative Madam Comfort Lamptey giving an insight into International projects on banning the practice of FGM said the dialogue is timely because it’s built on progress that Liberia has made today in trying to eliminate the harmful practice of FGM.
Madam Lamptey said as UN Women they are very pleased to be a part of the journey so far in working within the UN family under the Spotlight Initiative on the issue of FGM in Liberia.
She emphasized that they didn’t put much focus on health and mental health and impart on the conversations they had and they all know that FGM does not just affect you because there is a psychosocial effect which they have to into the conversation and it is a great thing they are having the dialogue.
Madam Lamptey indicated that the practice of FGM is not only limited to Liberia but is recognized internationally and globally as a harmful and traditional practice.
“It is estimated that more than 12,000 girls are at risk of FGM around the world and in Liberia 38% of women and girls age 15 and above are victims of FGM. At the international level, many instruments have recognized the harmful effects both internationally and regionally from human rights law to the African Chapter on People’s Rights to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women to the Convention on the Rights of the child, etc. all acknowledge the need for countries to ban FGM because it is a harmful practice,” she added.
The UN Women’s Country Representative continues that there is no shortage of mandates either regionally or internationally to ban FGM as such the practice continues in Liberia.
“There has been a lot of progress in the fight against FGM in Liberia by the traditional leaders, and civil society organizations including the National Working Group on Harmful Traditional Practices. So, there has been progress that has been made and of course, there have been partners that have supported this, the European Union, the Government of Sweden, and the UN family as a whole. Our own Secretary-General has also made a need to invest in this measure to ensure that we ban FGM in all countries by 2030 which is the SDG and ensure that we put in place measures to support survivals and help them regain their lives; so we have a task at hand,” she said.
Meanwhile, she said they have a moment now for Liberia to have the law on FGM as such a lot of momentum has been built and there is work going on presently in the Legislature to get a bill that will be produced on the floor to ban FGM.
She highlighted that this effort requires not just the senators but traditional leaders, CSOs, and all Liberians to support as such the next step is to ensure that Liberia has a law to ban FGM.
The event was grace by Liberia Culture Ambassador, Juli Endee, members of the National Traditional Chiefs and Elders, WHO Country Representative, Dr. Clement Lugala Peter, students, international partners, and others.
FGM in Liberia
Globally, more than 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM, a practice that involves the removal or injury of external female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is a violation of human rights, causing irreversible physical and psychological harm to millions of girls and women across various communities.
Important progress has been made in eliminating FGM globally and in Liberia. A year ago, on 6 February 2023, the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NACCEL), proclaimed to ban the practice of FGM in Liberia. Since then, traditional ceremonies to effectively enforce the ban on FGM have been conducted in four out of 11 FGM-practicing counties in Liberia, namely Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, Nimba, and Bong counties.
Liberia also signaled its commitment to ending FGM during the global convening of world leaders and women’s rights activists at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in 2021, where Liberia pledged to pursue efforts to end Gender Based Violence and became a signatory to the collective commitment on eradicating harmful practices, including FGM.
