The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has released a report analyzing legal frameworks on female genital mutilation (FGM) in nine West African countries. The report’s authors note that eliminating the harmful practice of FGM, a form of violence against women and a violation of women’s human rights, is a key UN sustainable development goal. To help achieve this goal, “a legal framework that clearly outlaws FGM can support its abandonment . . . Where FGM is already socially contested, legislation can encourage those who wish to abandon it and deter those who fear prosecution.”
The report highlights case studies from the West African countries reviewed, and offers recommendations for best practices and other approaches to ending FGM. The report is intended as a resource for policy-makers, law enforcement, judges, non-governmental organizations and others “involved in laws, programmes and policies that address FGM.”
Compiled from: Analysis of Legal Frameworks on Female Genital Mutilationin Selected Countries in West Africa, UNFPA Regional Office for West and Central Africa (2018).