Rome - Hundreds of young
girls in Kenya's ethnic Kuria community will be spared female
genital mutilation (FGM) in 2017 because of a superstition that
the number seven is unlucky, campaigners say.
They called on the government to take advantage of the
suspension to step up education around the ritual, which can
cause serious health problems.
The Kuria, who number around 260,000 in southwest Kenya,
normally cut girls in the school holidays in December. The break
means they are unlikely to resume the ritual until the end of
2018.
"They believe seven is a cursed number so they won't be
cutting this year," said Natalie Robi, a Kuria campaigner.
"If the government capitalised on this period it could bring
a huge change next year," she told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation by phone from Migori County.
Activists said neighbouring Tanzania was home to a larger
Kuria population which would also suspend the ritual.
Campaigners, UN officials and government representatives
from around the world are meeting in Rome this week for a
conference on accelerating efforts to end FGM.
Globally, an estimated 200 million women and girls have
undergone FGM, which usually involves the partial or total
removal of the external genitalia.
The ritual is commonly associated with 27 African countries,
Yemen, Iraqi Kurdistan and Indonesia.
Kenya, which has banned FGM, is widely seen as a leader in
efforts to eradicate the internationally condemned practice.
One in five women have been cut in Kenya, but the rate is
much higher in some communities which believe the ritual is
crucial for social acceptance and increasing their daughters'
marriage prospects.
Linah Kilimo, who set up Kenya's Anti-FGM Board said the
government had launched a major prevention initiative last year,
knowing the Kuria were planning to cut more girls than usual in
December because of this year's suspension.
Law enforcement officers were put on high alert and meetings
held with village elders to explain the dangers of FGM.
Kilimo, who stepped down as head of the board in January,
said many girls had been saved.
Eight people have been charged with FGM-related offences in
Kenya.
"This is the year now to do a lot of sensitisation work to
cement our achievements of 2016," Kilimo said on the sidelines
of the BanFGM conference which ends on Wednesday.
Activist Robi described FGM - often carried out with
unsterilised blades or knives - as "a very barbaric act".
But she said it remained almost universal among the Kuria,
where women are treated as children until they are cut.
FGM can happen between the ages of eight and 20. Once a girl
is cut she is expected to marry.
Robi said she had recently helped a nine-year-old who was
cut in December in preparation for marriage.
Uncut Kuria women have a lower status and are banned from
some activities. The stigmatisation means girl are often keen to
undergo FGM, campaigners say.
Robi said she was shunned by her peers after her mother
refused to have her cut.
"Growing up was very hard. I didn't have friends because I
had not been circumcised. If I walked around the community I
would be abused," she said.
Robi, founder of grassroots group Msichana Empowerment
Kuria, said schooling was key to ending FGM.
"It begins with having an education. You learn about other
people's cultures and that other people do things differently."
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