Communities that still hold steadfastly to the practice of Female Genital Mutilation are increasingly finding new ways of secretly performing the cut on girls.
Tabitha Ouya, head of the Prosecutors Training Institute at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that these new tactics are causing a strain in the fight to end FGM.
“Medical FGM, the cutting of baby girls at birth, and crossing borders to get cut are some of the ways communities are using to escape the law,” she revealed.
She was speaking during a high-level national consultative meeting to reflect on the gains made in the fight against FGM on Wednesday at the Villa Rosa Kempinski organised by the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA) and the United Nations Population Fund Kenya (UNFPA).
Ouya said that parents conspire with doctors at birth to cut baby girls using fingernails as well as taking young girls to get cut at clinics during school holidays so as to not be detected by the authorities.
"These parents do this secret procedure so as to not draw attention to themselves through the celebrations that usually accompany FGM practices," she said.
The resistance to change from these communities, she said, also poses a challenge when it comes to the provision of witnesses to testify in court because of great fear and intimidation from community members.
Another tactic that communities have adopted to secretly circumcise girls, she said, was by crossing over to countries that do not prohibit the practice of FGM.
When it comes to prosecuting the perpetrators of these acts, Ouya said that the lack of sufficient evidence to convict the cutters greatly hinders the prosecution’s work.
“The Prohibition of FGM Act, 2011 can not stand alone because many times, we fail to get sufficient evidence against the offenders so most times, we have to fall back on the Sexual Offenses Act, the Children’s Act, and the Penal Code in order to prosecute them,” she revealed.
Due to the fact that some girls bleed to death after being cut, Ouya said, the perpetrators are also charged with murder.
“For the cases that are across the border, we resort to the Counter-Trafficking and Persons Act where we charge them with trafficking or smuggling of young girls,” she added.
Ouya said that the best solution would be to strengthen their working approach towards the gathering of evidence.
“The DPP has come up with a specialised Anti-FGM units with 61 prosecutors spread across the counties and concentrated where prevalence is high,”
“With this and the Standard Operating Procedures across different agencies set up by the DPP, a working approach will be achieved in the gathering of evidence for the prosecution,” she said.
Various stakeholders at the meeting emphasised the need to employ a multi-agency approach to the fight against FGM.
Caroline Murgor, Gender Adviser at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said that all sectors need to work together to ensure the loopholes allowing FGM to keep going are sealed.
"We need to acknowledge that FGM is a culturally entrenched practice and it is not something that we can conquer with our modern tools of legislation," she said.
“We have to engage stakeholders at the grassroots like chiefs and others in the community, the judiciary and the DPP must all play their part,” she added.
