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16 year old Charity (not her real name) is pregnant. She makes time to read and hopes to go back to school once she delivers her baby and schools re-open. Charity was sexually defiled by someone known to her. “Only God knows my future despite what has happened,” said Charity.

USE LONG HOLIDAYS TO PROTECT GIRLS FROM THE RISK OF FGM

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BY LOCI BENEDICTS, ONYIMBI NELSON

School holidays offer parents and learners opportunities to meet, interact, and spend quality time together. They also give learners a deserved break from their respective institutions. Unfortunately, it is during such times that learners are subjected and exposed to rising cases of sexual and gender-based violence, including young girls being subjected to harmful cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation.

Despite the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act of 2011 prohibiting the practice, FGM persists in some communities in Kenya due to rooted cultural, social, and economic intermediaries. While FGM is still a prevalent practice in many communities in the country, during the last half of the year, the cases significantly rise. According to statistics in Kenya, FGM is practiced across a majority of Kenyan ethnic cultures and religions, although to varying degrees. The highest prevalence is among Muslim women (51.1% of women aged 15–49) and Somali (86.9%), Kisii (70.9%), Maasai (56.7%), Somali (86.9%), and Samburu (75.9%). The act puts school-going children at risk of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases since they unhygienically share the instruments used for the illicit cut. School-going adolescent girls, instead, should be mentored and educated on the dangers of FGM as an old-fashioned activity.

As human-rights-serving organizations and individuals, our collective goal is to create a world where every girl can grow up free from the fear of FGM and related cultures like early marriages. FGM is not only a harmful cultural practice but it is also a meaningful violation of human rights that lays prevailing physical, psychological, and emotional trauma to survivors. The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation 2024 said, “We need decisive action to tackle the social, economic, and political norms that perpetuate discrimination against women and girls, limit their participation and leadership, and restrict their access to education and employment. Female genital
mutilation is a gross violation of fundamental human rights that causes lifelong harm to the physical and mental health of women and girls.”

To eliminate FGM by 2030, concerned parties should focus on the targets inaugurated in the Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5) calls for gender equality and empowers all women and girls focused on the elimination of forced child marriages and Female Genital Mutilation. As parents spend quality time with their families, they are mandated to advise and educate adolescent girls on the dangers of negative cultural practices. During holidays, adolescent girls are not only exposed to victims of negative cultural practices but also child trafficking to unknown places.

Urgent parental advice for adolescent schoolchildren, community engagement, and educational initiatives to increase awareness of detrimental cultural behaviors are all necessary to achieve SDG 5. Parents should advise students to avoid places like “Disco Matanga” and concentrate
on their studies. Students who participate in such activities are at a high risk of falling victim to harmful traditional cultures and the resulting harms, including sexually transmitted infections.