Nigeria Outlaws Female Genital Mutilation

I am not sure why the article focused exclusively on the FGM component: the act is actually a comprehensive act against a full range of violence - and was the product of a major campaign by a broad coalition of civil society organizations. The act addresses sexual and domestic violence, stalking and harrasment, other harmful and traditional practices such as abuse of widows, and also political violence and violence by state actors.

So a great achievement to get it not only passed but also proclaimed. Now the work starts on implementation and monitoring.  

This is good news, but the problem may lie in the enforcement of banning an entrenched cultural practice. FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 2008, but it is still a rampant practice.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/06/female-genital-mutilation-e...

Quote:

Awataf Mohamed Ali’s son lies fast asleep on her lap, but her 10-year-old daughter, Shahd, is very much awake. In fact, she looks horrified. Ali has just calmly explained that in just 18 months’ time, if she can find a doctor willing to help, Shahd will probably be subjected to female genital mutilation.

FGM has been illegal in Egypt since 2008. But Ali claims that adherence to the law will result in her daughter “being ill-mannered and doing bad things, and being badly behaved”. Sitting to her left, Shahd says nothing. In this remote village in southern Egypt, girls’ bodies are not theirs to control.

It is a similar story across much of the country: in 2008, Unicef estimated that 91% of married Egyptian women aged between 15 and 49 had been mutilated – 72% of them by doctors. In fact, the rate is so high in the country that “if we were able to eradicate FGM in Egypt, we could get rid of one-fourth of the cases worldwide”, says Jaime Nadal, the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) representative in Cairo.