This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
Kenya is grappling with a surge in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, with at least 8 girls reported to have undergone the procedure in West Pokot.
According to Susan Krop, director of KOMESI Women Network, a rescue center for FGM victims, the pandemic has created an environment conducive to the practice, with young girls facing an imminent danger of FGM as schools remain closed.
“As at now, our organization is unable to reach out to the girls most of whom are students because they are forced to stay indoors as per the government directive of staying at home,” Krop said.
Despite the challenges, 35 girls aged between 16 and 18 who were housed by the organization have now been released back to their families.
FGM is a deeply ingrained practice in some Kenyan communities, with the United Nations estimating that one in five women and girls aged between 15 and 49 in Kenya have undergone the procedure.
Although FGM was banned in Kenya in 2011 with a punishment of three years in imprisonment and a fine, some communities continue to practice the act, with President Uhuru Kenyatta's pledge to end FGM by 2020 deemed unrealistic by women's rights groups.
As the pandemic continues to exacerbate the situation, the national helpline 1195 has registered an increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases during the dusk-to-dawn curfew, with 115 cases reported in March, up from 86 in February.
According to Professor Margaret Kobia, cabinet secretary for Public Service, Youth and Gender, the curfew has increased the vulnerability of women and girls owing to confinement with their abusers, with women in quarantine facing increased risks of intimate partner violence and girls staying home from school vulnerable to forms of abuse, such as defilement and FGM.
