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Abstract
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In Kenya, the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act1 Kenya Law Reports: Act No. 32 of 2011.[[ Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011. Nairobi: National Council for Law Reporting; 2012. Retrieved from
http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/Acts/ProhibitionofFemaleGenitalMutilationAct_No32of2011.pdf]] was passed in 2011. This law calls for a complete ban on girl circumcision. Community policing structures are in place to help with enforcing these and other laws. [[National Task Force on Community Policing. Nyumba kumi: the spirit of community policing. Nairobi, Kenya; 2015. Retrieved from http://www.communitypolicing.go.ke/ ]]
Several non-governmental health organisations, Amref Health Africa being one, have committed themselves to making people abandon girl circumcision. [[ Amref Health Africa. Our vision to end FGM/C by 2030. Nairobi, Kenya 2017. Retrieved from
https://view.publitas.com/amref-flying-doctors/amref-our-vision-to-end-fgm-c-by-2030/
https://www.amref.nl/attachments/article/741/factsheet%20meisjesbesnijdenis_2018.pdf ]]
Amref Health Africa works closely with the Kenyan government but adopts a stronger focus on building rapport and creating dialogue with and within practising communities, for example by organising awareness campaigns on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and facilitating support groups.
The rationale for the abolition of girl circumcision, usually constructed as female genital mutilation (FGM) to imply unnecessary damage to the female genital organs, is based on an articulated stance backed by universal human rights and medical reporting. From this perspective, it makes perfect sense to work on policies, regulations and rules that prohibit girl circumcision and make people aware of the negative health consequences of this practice. Change, however, is not just a matter of activating rules and having good arguments. Since 2009, Amref Health Africa pinned its hopes on alternative rites of passage (ARP) to account for affective aspects of girl circumcision. ARP is intended as a rite that mimics the original one, but without “the cut” and without the girls having to be married. In 2016, we conducted qualitative research into the changeability of girl circumcision and ARP’s cultural embeddedness amongst Maasai and Samburu communities in Kenya [[ Graamans E, Ofware P, Nguura P, et al. Understanding different positions on female genital cutting among Maasai and Samburu communities in Kenya: a cultural psychological perspective. Cult Health Sex. 2019;21(1):79–94. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2018.1449890
* The research protocol was approved by the Ethics and Scientific Review Committee of AMREF Health Africa in Kenya on 27 October 2016 (REF: AMREF-ESRC P277/2016).
Language: en |