This year, we are a mere decade away from the 2030 deadline of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Sadly, as we approach this key milestone of human progress, we are losing the battle against a challenge afflicting millions of girls and women around the world.
According to the latest UNICEF data, more than 125 million girls and women in 29 countries have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), and five of the nations with the highest prevalence are in Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines female genital mutation as the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs, for non-medical reasons.
Reports suggest that the phenomenon has experienced a resurgence as a result of COVID-19, in particular across East and West Africa. Prolonged curfews, work furloughs and layoffs have restricted movement, kept families homebound, and reduced economic opportunities.
Schools – which often function as a temporary safe haven for girls or young women in communities that practice FGM – have shut down, leaving former students more vulnerable to pressure to undergo the procedure, in the belief that it makes them more marriageable. Some families under economic hardship view the prospect of a bride price as a financial incentive to send circumcised daughters off as wives, even at a young age.
According to civil society activists, the surge is also being driven by the absence of a female genital mutilation component in African countries’ COVID-19 response plans as well as the diversion of time and resources toward tackling the pandemic.
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, it is clear that female genital mutilation is increasingly falling out of favour in countries where it has been practiced for centuries. The issue is therefore no longer a cultural one, but a matter of human rights and health – not to mention economics.
The WHO estimates that in pre-pandemic 2019, the healthcare costs for survivors in Africa was $1.4 billion across 26 countries. The agency’s new FGM Cost Calculator suggests that if female genital mutilation continues at present rates, the annual cost will hit $2.1 billion per year by 2048. Gains made in fighting the practice may be lost due to its resurgence as a result of the pandemic.
In other words, genital mutilation undermines Africa’s efforts to enhance the quality of life of its citizens. Therefore, we cannot allow this resurgence to continue.
The African Development Bank’s COVID-19 response has seen tens of millions of dollars disbursed to regional member countries and some of this funding has been used to address gender-based violence. For example, in South Africa, the Bank has boosted government measures to curb gender-based violence and femicide, specifically with the development of an Integrated Gender-based Violence and Femicide Management Information System.
These efforts align with the African Development Bank‘s Gender Strategy (2021-2025) which has the empowerment of women and girls at its core. We believe that collaborative interventions to end female genital mutilation will have a transformative effect for women and girls in Africa – helping the world work toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As we observe International Day for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on 6 February, the African Development Bank recognizes the urgent need to fully eliminate female genital mutilation. Women and girls cannot fully realize their economic and social potential if their lives are put at risk by this traumatic practice.
The theme for the 2021 International Day for Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation is, “No Time for Global Inaction: Unite, Fund and Act to End Female Genital Mutilation” which is particularly relevant in the era of coronavirus. We call on African countries to include health and social services in their national COVID-19 response plans, with FGM prevention and recovery as essential components.
We call for more regional and national partnerships around legislative reform, strengthening national accountability and resource mobilization for anti-FGM efforts. Partners should also invest in returning girls to school – including girls who may have dropped out due to early marriage or early pregnancy.
We support efforts to eliminate the practice of FGM that have proven effective, including incorporating tech-savvy innovations into monitoring and reporting initiatives, particularly in remote communities.
FGM offers women and girls no health benefit, and is recognized internationally as a violation of their human rights, health and integrity. Join me as we unite, fund and act to end female genital mutilation.
About the author:
Vanessa Moungar is Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank Group