WAVES-SL success stories for women and girls rights

Women leading the movement to end FGM/C

Each year, girls and women in Sierra Leone are at risk of undergoing the harmful practice FGM/C. While the customs and traditions that perpetuate FGM/C vary from community to community, the procedure is generally carried out sometime between infancy and age 15. According to WHO, FGM/C comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure is usually done with a razor blade, surgical scalpel or knife and conducted under very unhygienic conditions resulting young girls to contract diseases or tetanus. The procedure forces girls and women to endure pain, trauma and life-threatening complications including psychological trauma throughout their lives. Girls who have gone through FGM/C are also at a higher risk of having complications during birth, endangering both the mother and baby. There is no health benefit to FGM/C and it is recognized internationally as a human rights violation.