CULTURE

The government and the cultural leaders of the Sebei and Karamoja regions in Uganda are working out an alternative 'rite of passage' to replace the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Peace Mutuuzo, the gender and cultural affairs state minister, revealed that the move is aimed at stopping the practice of mutilating women and young girls as a way of ushering them into adulthood.

“We are working with the cultural elders. We have asked them to come up with an alternative rite of passage so that women do not have to be subjected to FGM any more,” she said on Wednesday in Kampala.

Minister Peace Mutuuzo speaking during the meeting at Munyonyo on Wednesday

Mutuuzo was speaking at the opening session of the 3rd Inter-Ministerial Cross-border Meeting for Addressing Female Genital Mutilation at Speke Resort, Munyonyo.

FGM is an internationally recognised violation of the human rights of girls and women. Despite reports that the prevalence of the vice is declining around the world, the practice still affects around 200 million women globally.

In Uganda, it is mainly practised in the districts of Kween, Moroto, Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Nakapiripirit, and Amudat.

Minister Mutuuzo said that the fight against the vice has been hampered by a lack of understanding of the root cause of the practice in these areas despite its negative consequences to women and girls.

A 2021 study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) indicates that 26.7% of the people in the said districts, aged 15-49, practise FGM. The national average prevalence rate is 0.3%, which, according to the latest Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS) of 2016,  remains one of the lowest in East Africa.

Most of the affected category of people have been found to be disadvantaged women from poor households, who have low levels of education and who reside in rural areas.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's meeting attracted ministers from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Delegates from different countries attending the session

Mutuuzo underlined that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice of FGM shot up, with women aged 45 and above being the most affected.

“It is unfortunate to note that FGM prevalence increased in all age groups across both in Karamoja and Sebei regions. We have witnessed FGM prevalence of nearly 68% among women aged more than 45, and 8% among girls aged 15-24,” she revealed.

It is understood that the practice has been mainly fueled by the pressure communities put on women, as well as the emergence of medical mutilation and cross-border FGM to elude law enforcers.

Unlike before, when the practice was widely celebrated, the enactment of preventive laws has seen a shift to underground methods by those practising it.

“This is a wake-up call to the bitter realities and challenges of negative masculinity that we have to get prepared to deal with at all levels and devise new strategies and approaches,” said the minister.

This youth group from Kapchorwa put up a lively cultural performance for the delegates

FGM was made illegal by the 2010 Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, but it is still prevalent in some districts in Sebei and Karamoja.

The meeting at Munyonyo was held to discuss the progress by member states in the fight against the vice, and share good practices towards elimination of FGM.

'Time to fulfil our promise'

Daniel Alemu, the deputy representative of UNFPA, called for an increase in domestic resources for the implementation of the regional and national action plans for abandonment of FGM, if the practice is to be eliminated by 2030.

Daniel Alemu said it is time to fulfil the promise on zero FGM

He also called for the empowerment of youth to help end FGM and espouse social norms that promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and universal access to sexual reproductive health information and services.

Alemu also urged empowerment of women and girls towards bodily autonomy to be able to make decisions that affect their lives and futures.

“Now is the time to fulfil our promise to all women and girls of reaching zero FGM by 2030,” he said.

Meanwhile, below were the key findings contained in a policy brief on FGM in Uganda:

- Age at cutting appears to be lower among Pokot communities in Karamoja (around 14–15 years) than among the Sabiny in Sebei (17–19 years).

- Among Pokot women, FGM is still being carried out mostly on adolescent girls as a rite of passage before marriage. Among the Sabiny, FGM is increasingly performed among older uncut married women.

- 95% of women in eastern Uganda support abandonment of FGM but strong social influences and peer pressure limit women’s ability to abandon the practice and
influence others against it.

- Women’s desire to participate at male circumcision ceremonies and celebrations – a
key community social event that only mutilated women are allowed to attend – remains an important driver of FGM, especially among older married women.

- Nowadays, girls undergo the (illegal) practice in secret, often in remote locations and unsafe conditions. Cross-border FGM is also becoming increasingly common given perceived weaker anti-FGM law enforcement on the border with Kenya. 

- In Sebei, where older married women are increasingly likely to undergo FGM, the practice is often performed by traditional birth attendants (TBAs) during antenatal visits or at childbirth.

- Protective factors against FGM: The probability of a woman being mutilated decreases with both her educational attainment and access to information (frequent use of media channels such as TV and radio). Higher education levels and mobile phone ownership are predictors of increased awareness of FGM. Religion, and participation in church- or mosque-promoted activities, also emerged as an important driver of abandonment.

- Mutilated women are less supportive of abandonment than uncut women and more likely to support their sons’ marriage only with mutilated girls. Mothers also play a key role in influencing their daughters’ decision to undergo FGM. This may result in some form of intergenerational perpetuation of FGM whereby mutilated women act as promoters for the continuation of the practice among younger generations.

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More pictures from Wednesday's meeting at Munyonyo:

Dr. Linah Kilimo, the chief administrative secretary in the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, giving a statement on the progress of FGM in Kenya . . .

The discussion on FGM was comprehensive. Here, legislator Dora Kanabahita Byamukama gives a keynote address . . .

Traditional leaders commiting to end FGM . . .

Minister Mutuuzo (left) interacting with fellow Ugandan minister Sarah Mateke (State minister for youth and children's affairs) and others at the meeting . . .

Dr. Linah Kilimo from Kenya (left) chats with Hanifa Mohamed Ibrahim, Somalia's women and human rights development minister . . .