In 2022, the Nationwide Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NACCEL) introduced a three-year moratorium on feminine genital mutilation (FGM). A yr later, the council made one other proclamation to ban FGM after which held ceremonies to finish the observe in 5 of the 11 counties the place FGM is practised.
Nonetheless, regardless of the ban, there have been persevering with studies of FGM exercise. In September 2024, the Nationwide Coalition Towards Dangerous Practices (NACAPH), a coalition of civil society actors, launched a press release expressing issues about “widespread resurgence of Feminine Genital Mutilation actions in numerous areas of Liberia”. It’s now clear that the measures already taken have been ineffective.
With the three-year ban having expired in February, Liberia wants to maneuver decisively towards the observe. Lawmakers should move a regulation criminalising FGM, which ought to be accompanied by authorities measures to persuade communities to finish the observe.
FGM normally includes the partial or complete removing of the exterior feminine genitalia. This observe is prevalent in Liberia as it’s a part of the practices of the Sande Society, a robust, conventional, secret society, which initiates ladies into maturity in bush faculties.
In accordance with the United Nations, greater than 50 % of Liberian girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone the dangerous process. Nonetheless, the precise share is tough to estimate as a result of the key nature of the Sande Society has resulted in FGM actions being largely underreported, as victims preserve a code of silence.
There have additionally been cases of journalists being focused and threatened with forceful reducing as a consequence of their reporting on FGM, which has additional added to the issue of underreporting.
To this point, the struggle towards FGM has largely been championed by the worldwide group and Liberia’s civil society. However the affect of the Sande Society, conventional beliefs, and patriarchy have largely prevented any makes an attempt to take authorized measures towards the observe.
For instance, in 2016, members of Liberia’s lawmakers eliminated a clause banning the observe from a proposed home violence invoice, and in 2022, a invoice banning the observe was launched within the Liberian parliament, nevertheless it didn’t get sufficient assist to move.
Stress to finish the observe has resulted to this point in interim measures solely, which have been largely ineffective. In 2018, on her final day in workplace, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf signed an government order that positioned a one-year ban on FGM. This was adopted by a one-year ban on the observe by NACCEL in 2019, after which the 2022 three-year moratorium and the 2023 ban.
There are a number of issues with tasking NACCEL with the enactment and enforcement of a ban. First, a ban declared by the standard council doesn’t have the pressure of regulation. Whereas the council has conventional authority and affect over the communities who have interaction within the observe, it stays unclear the way it can maintain those that breach its prohibitions accountable.
Second, a few of the chiefs and elders themselves encourage FGM or should not essentially against it.
Third, entrusting the problem of FGM within the arms of NACCEL implies that any motion on it’s primarily based on the political will of whoever is accountable for the council at a given time.
The enactment of a regulation criminalising FGM can remedy all of those issues. The state and its businesses have the operational capability to oversee and implement a authorized ban all through Liberia. Dealing with the prospect of punishment would additionally have a extra highly effective impact on discouraging the observe.
Along with the regulation, the Liberian authorities must also arrange a sturdy reporting and witness safety system to make sure FGM is satisfactorily reported. FGM is basically a taboo subject and reporting may result in ostracisation. People who select to tell the authorities when the regulation is damaged ought to be adequately protected.
The implementation of a authorized ban must also go hand-in-hand with different initiatives to struggle the observe. It needs to be recognised that FGM can also be an financial matter, as most zoes – feminine chiefs who historically lead initiation rites for the Sande Society and carry out FGM – cost for the service. Ending the observe would imply a lack of livelihood for a whole lot of girls.
Due to this fact, the federal government must also search to broaden programmes that present zoes keen to depart behind the observe with coaching and abilities to allow them to discover various livelihoods.
There’s additionally a cultural component that must be recognised. The Sande bush faculties have been round for hundreds of years, they usually contain numerous different practices, rituals, and coaching to arrange ladies for his or her lives as grownup girls. The federal government must work with communities to make sure that these faculties can proceed functioning with out the FGM element. The NACCEL might help on this regard and with communities accepting the criminalisation of FGM.
The very best time to enact a regulation is now, because the political will to take action is greater than it has ever been. Over the previous few years, extra conventional chiefs have demonstrated openness on the problem, which may affect lawmakers to vote in favour of such laws.
Liberia stays one of many few nations the place FGM is endemic that doesn’t have a regulation criminalising it. That is even though it’s a signatory to quite a few regional and worldwide devices, together with the Maputo Protocol, that decision for the top of this dangerous observe. It’s time for Liberia to take motion to guard its ladies and fulfil its worldwide commitments to finish FGM.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
