Monday, September 12, 2011

Kenya bans FGM

From the Guardian:
Kenya follows a number of African governments in outlawing the practice. According to the Pan African news agency, at the time of the African Union summit in June, which proposed prohibition of FGM, Benin, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Kenya, Central African Republic, Senegal, Chad, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda already had legislation against it.

But in nine countries (including some of those where it is illegal) it is still widely practised. In Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, 85% of women undergo mutilation.
(No citations given, it should be noted.) Can't say I'm thrilled that "the law even prohibits derogatory remarks about women who have not undergone FGM," though I suspect that's more symbolic than meant to be meaningfully enforced.

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