VOINJAMA – The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 200 million girls and women have undergone FGM, a practice that involves the removal or injury of the external female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

By Rita Jlogbe, Contributing Writer

The WHO terms the practice as a violation of human right abuse that causes irreversible physical and psychological harm to millions of girls and women across the world.

In 2021 at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, Liberia pledged to pursue efforts to end Gender Based Violence and became a signatory to collective commitment on eradicating harmful practices, including FGM.

In an effort to eliminating FGM, the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia on February 6, 2023 proclaimed a nationwide ban on FGM at the celebration of the International Day of Zero Tolerance of FGM in Sonkay Town, Montserrado County, but there is not law to support the ban.

“Although progress has been made in eliminating FGM, Liberia is one of only three countries in the region yet to outlaw FGM,” Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Liberia Country Representative said. “We call on lawmakers to ensure that the FGM Bill that is currently before the legislature is passed into law.”

In 2022, then Deputy Speaker of the 54^th Legislature and now Speaker of the 55^th Legislature Fonati Koffa proffered a bill entitled “An Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation of 2022.”

Representatives Thomas Goshua, Isaac Roland, Ceebee Barshell, Richard Koon and Rustonlyn Dennis of the 54^th Legislature were co-sponsors of the Bill. The Bill was forwarded by plenary to the committees on Internal Affairs, Gender Equity, and Judiciary for deliberation. Those committees were to make recommendations to plenary; unfortunately the Bill did not get the needed support to be passed into law till the 54^th legislature came to an end.

Liberia Traditional Queen Julie Endee, told journalists ahead of today’s celebration in Vezela that the ban on FGM is weak without legal backing.

“The ban is traditional and cultural, but you need a law because democracy is by law.” Endee said. “We can do initiation, we can dance, we can be trained on how to take care of our homes and be a dignify woman but just not mutilation.”

Since the ban on FGM was announced, traditional ceremonies to effectively enforce the ban have been held in four of Liberia’s eleven FGM practicing Counties including Montserrado, Grand Cape, Nimba and Bong.

The theme of this year’s commemoration calls for increasing survivors’ space for voicing out against the practice to protect girls at risk of being subjected to FGM.

This year’s celebration of Zero Tolerance for FGM is being held at the Vezela Vocational and Heritage Centre in Voinjama district, Lofa County.

Several activities are lined up to mark the anti-FGM Day including, traditional ceremonies to close bush schools and enforce the ban on FGM by NACCEL through technical support from the Liberia Crusaders for Peace and the official handover of the Heritage Centre to the Government of Liberia.  

Lofa is the fifth of the eleventh FGM practicing Counties to conduct traditional ceremonies to ban FGM and Close bush schools in the country.

The Vezela Vocational and Heritage Centre is one of four vocational and heritage centres constructed by UN Women under the European Union and United Nationals Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women, harmful practices and promote sexual and reproductive health rights.

Other Heritage and Vocational Centres are located in Grand Cape Mount, Montserrado and Nimba Counties.

Ambassador Endee beseeches international partners to construct heritage centres in all eleven FGM practicing counties in Liberia. “We’ve done our part; it’s left with the international community to continue to keep the people busy.” Endee said.

According to UN Women, the vocational and Heritage centres are intended to provide alternative livelihood skills empower former FGM practitioners to earn a living. At least 800 former practitioners of FGM are benefitting from alternative economic livelihood programs including climate smart agriculture, business and vocational skills training with support from the government of Liberia through the Spotlight Initiative.

Nimba County – Liberia recorded another significant milestone in its fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) as former practitioners from Nimba County, in northern Liberia handed over traditional tools they used to perform FGM to signal an end to practice. The traditional ceremony took place on Friday, 27 October 2023, at the Gbanquoi Vocational and Heritage Centre constructed by UN Women under the auspices of the European Union and United Nations Spotlight Initiative.

The ceremony marked a moment of transformation as former traditional practitioners, clad in white headgear and carrying containers draped in white cloths, surrendered their tools to Chief Zanzan Karwor, the Chairperson of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia.

Various stakeholders, including representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the Embassy of Sweden, UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA, civil society organizations, local authorities from Nimba, and traditional practitioners from various counties across Liberia, witnessed the ceremony.

Nimba has become the fourth out of the eleven counties where FGM is practiced to conduct traditional rituals to effectively end the practice. Other traditional ceremonies to end FGM have to date been held in Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, and Bong Counties. This achievement aligns with Chief Zanzan Karwor’s landmark proclamation on 06 February 2023, to ban FGM throughout Liberia.

The ban entails putting an end to the harmful practice of cutting women and girls while upholding positive cultural practices, such as singing, dancing, and weaving, among others. This is now widely known as ‘initiation without mutilation.’

Chief Zanzan Karwor reaffirmed traditional leaders’ commitment to abandon the FGM practice in Liberia, while Ambassador Juli Endee, Executive Director for Crusaders of Peace and cultural Queen of Liberia, emphasized that traditional leaders chose to end FGM voluntarily, driven by their belief in doing the right thing to accelerate development.

Ambassador Juli Endee expressed her deep appreciation to development partners for the support. She acknowledged the importance of reaching out to the ‘real people,’ the traditional leaders and the Zoes (traditional practitioners) to ensure the success of this transformative process.

Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Country Representative for Liberia, applauded Chief Zanzan Karwor for his leadership and commitment as well as embracing change, safeguarding the cultural passage rites of women and girls without the harmful effects of FGM.

She highlighted that Nimba County has one of the four vocational and heritage centres established with the support of the European Union and United Nations through the Spotlight Initiative. These centres aim to provide former traditional practitioners of FGM with alternative economic livelihood programs while preserving cultural heritage without FGM.

Nimba county authorities expressed their appreciation for the construction of heritage centres and urged former practitioners to utilize these centres for empowerment activities, ensuring they serve their intended purpose.

In addition, the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, Hon. Parleh Harris, expressed her gratitude to all stakeholders, including traditional leaders, for their courage in ending FGM. She encouraged everyone to move forward with unwavering determination, as the practice has now been banned. “We will now be telling our story to other countries about how we did it,” she said.

UN Women is supporting the roll out of the ban on FGM with funding from the Government of Sweden.