FGM: Reforms to Sabiny cultural norms on the way

CULTURAL NORMS

The Government and the development partners have pledged support towards the Sabiny cultural institution in its quest to introduce reforms in cultural norms to eliminate the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

 This comes after the latest report by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) revealed that despite the national prevalence rate of the FGM dropping from 1.4% in 2011 to 0.3%, its prevalence in some areas of the Sabiny was well above 50% in girls aged between 15-49 years.

The report headlined “FGM: Evidence from Uganda” was launched during a national dialogue held in Kampala yesterday to mark the belated International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM 2021. The UN General Assembly in 2012 designated February 6 as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM with the aim of amplifying and directing efforts towards eliminating the practice.

 PREVALENCE

UNICEF researcher Sarah Kaibaija said whereas Uganda’s prevalence is the lowest in Africa, FGM in the practising districts of Kapchorwa, Bukwo, Kween, Amudat, Moroto and Nakapiripirit was variably high.

Amudat has the highest prevalence of 95%, followed by Moroto at 53% and Kapchorwa, Bukwo and Kween at 50%. The research, according to Kaibaija, established that nowadays girls are mutilated at a younger age than in the past.

“Age at cutting appears to be lower among the Pokot communities in Karamoja (around 14-15 years) than among the Sabiny in Sebei (17- 19 years),” she said. Among the Pokot women, she said FGM is still being carried out mostly in adolescent girls as a rite passage before marriage, while among the Sabiny FGM is increasingly performed among old uncut married women.

The report also revealed that currently the practice is increasingly being done in secrecy 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,” Kaibaija said. The desire by women to participate at male circumcision ceremonies and celebrations, a key social event was also fuelling FGM, according to the report, since it is only mutilated women who are allowed to attend.

SOCIAL NORMS

The report cites widespread support for the abandonment of the practice, but persistent social norms hamper discontinuation. Jesca Kusuro Yego, a member of the Sabiny cultural institution, said the institution was determined to drop the practice. “The plan is to introduce a mentorship programme for the young people as an initiation into adulthood other than the primitive practice of FGM,” she said.

UNICEF Country Representative Mohammed El Munir called for inter-generation dialogue to convince both the old and the young people to change their perception on FGM. The state minister for youth and children affairs, Florence Nakiwala Kiyingi, said the reduction in FGM prevalence rates from 1.4% in 2011 to 0.3% shows efforts put into fighting the practice. She also attributed it to the strong legal framework.