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FGM continues in Senegal 10 years after villagers claim to abandon it
Some 70km southeast of Senegal's capital Dakar, a crowd of journalists and dignitaries gathered in the village of Malicounda Bambara on 5 August to commemorate the day 10 years ago, which made headlines around the world, when the community openly declared that it had abandoned a local tradition known as ‘female genital mutilation' or ‘female genital cutting' (FGM/C).
Yet a decade later, here, and in many of the 2,657 villages in Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso that have since made similar declarations, there are worrying signs that FGM/C still exists.
Just a few minutes walk from the marching bands, dancing and countless congratulatory speeches, a village elder stood outside her canteen, chastising the fanfare as a farce. “They haven't really abandoned the practice,” she said of the women of Malicounda Bambara. “The same women who are publicly declaring it has been abandoned are continuing to cut,” she said.
