– As dozens of school-going girls graduate from Society

By Jerromie S. Walters
Weala, Margibi County: The euphoria in Weala appeared like a holiday when a crowd gathered outside the Zenah Hill Sende Society School as the weekend marked a bittersweet occasion—the release of over thirty females, including minors and teenagers who had just undergone the controversial rite of female genital mutilation (FGM).
For many in the crowd, the event was a celebration of tradition, a rite of passage that had been practiced for generations. But for others, it was an awkward reminder of the struggles against a practice that had been officially banned just two and a half years prior.
One of the leaders of the Sande school narrated while presenting the minors who had just left the bush school to an elderly woman: “The reason we are doing it is because some people can think differently. Some people can think negative. Everything, good thing oo, bad thing oo we gave it to her now she gets her man them behind it. La the man them here, la the men them, la the men them here so before you say we are making a sacrifice because that’s what you can say,” she said, pointing at several men who were seated in the crowd.
The National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia, alongside the Government of Liberia, proclaimed a permanent ban on FGM in February 2022, and this decision was hailed by local and international human rights organizations. Yet today, the reality on the ground paints a different picture. For the graduation in Weala, sources say it was the third batch of participants.
The young women and children paraded from the Sende Society School to the town. Barefooted, the minors and teens who had just undergone the practice of FGM were decorated in green and white traditional outfits. They were met with cheers from their families and well-wishers.
Howbeit, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection (MGCSP) says it is aware of the matter and currently soliciting the needed details which will be followed by consultations with stakeholders and later actions if required. In response to the report Liberia’s Deputy Minister for Gender, Ms. Laura Golakeh informed this paper mid-Sunday: “All I can say is that we are trying to gather information. We have our local office in Margibi, and we also have a gender-based observatory group actively engaged in the communities. They are responsible for reporting incidents like these to us. Additionally, we are reaching out to the Peace Hut women to ensure we are collecting enough information.”
The Deputy Minister highlighted the collaborative efforts underway. “We have our traditional leaders there, we are reaching out to them to gather information. That’s what we are doing at this time. But at the central level, we are planning consultations with the Ministry of Internal Affairs because this is not the Ministry of Gender fight alone. We are planning consultations with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Information, and the Ministry of Education, with Women’s CSOs, and lawmakers. They are all very critical to this. We are planning that consultation with them, with the information that we would be able to gather from Margibi, we can present that information during that consultative meeting. [Because we are trying to make sure that the approach we are using is holistic].”
Moreover, Deputy Minister Golakeh noted the broader concerns of the Gender Minister regarding gender-based violence. “What she has set out to do is to first of all just remind us that whatever we decide, however, we go about addressing this, it has to come from a place of honesty, collectiveness, and with the mind that we have to appreciate our traditional people. We have to appreciate what is it they bring to this discourse.”
Meanwhile, the Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) has condemned and frowned on the incident. The women’s group noted in a press release dated September 15, 2024, “The Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia (WONGOSOL) expresses deep concern and strongly condemns the recent incident involving several young girls who were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Zinnah Hill Bush, Weala, Margibi County. This act comes despite the three-year (February 2022-2025) ban on the practice in Liberia, marking a serious violation of the prohibition, Article VI, Section 4 of the Children’s Law (2011), and the fundamental human rights of the survivors.”
The organization emphasizes that FGM is a harmful cultural practice with no medical benefits, posing serious health risks and contradicting various national and international legal frameworks to which Liberia is a signatory, including the Children’s Law (2011), the Maputo Protocol, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In light of this violation, WONGOSOL is calling on the Liberian government to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. “The recent ban on FGM in Liberia was a victory for gender equality and women’s rights,” stated a WONGOSOL representative. “It is imperative that we do not allow isolated acts of defiance to undermine this progress.”
At the ceremony in Weala over the weekend, Johnson S. Freeman, a resident of the District hailed the act (Graduation of the young women) and emphasized that the tradition must continue. What he admires the most about it is the fact that the young women were released at a time when the new academic year had begun.
Freeman: “Really I feel happy because this is our tradition. I don’t care we do what we can’t do away with it. Even though some of us were small when we joined [we don’t have much idea] but stay we had to come around. Luckily my little brother’s wife is part so I couldn’t stay behind. I’m very happy at this time because you know school coming open and this is the right time for them to release them for school because we have to learn both sides. For me, I don’t have any disappointment but if they had kept them up to school then somehow I would feel bad but like next week Monday school will be active so it’s the right time to turn them over to their parent then they can start the civilized side.”
The Sad Reality:
Despite the ban, women’s rights activists say the resurgence of FGM in Liberia has been fueled by a complex mix of cultural beliefs. From February 2022, up to early 2024, traditional ceremonies to effectively enforce the ban on FGM were also conducted in five out of 11 FGM-practicing counties in Liberia, namely Montserrado, Grand Cape Mount, Nimba, Bong, and Lofa counties.
However, an investigation by this paper in April of this year unveiled that the strive to end female genital mutilation (FGM) in Liberia can not be easily actualized without the government of Liberia’s financial and moral support. Ma. Massah Kandakai, the Head Zoe Of Montserrado County told this paper that her people were resolved to completely halt the practice of FGM but they were still lacking an alternative means of survival.
She [Ma. Massah] was explicit about the fact that ending FGM In Liberia will be difficult if the traditional women are not empowered. “The bushes are plenty in Montserrado so some of them say the UN people never satisfied them. The people (Zoes) said the people (UN, and government) need to satisfy them. The satisfy means if you tell somebody to leave this one (FGM), tell them to hold this one (Alternative livelihood program), that’s what it means.”
Like Ma. Massah, the former Chairperson of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia (NCCEL), Chief Zanzan Karwor, acknowledged that alternative livelihoods for traditional women remained the hold on to ending FGM in Liberia at that time [April 2024]. His words: “The thing is in your hand, you build today, and they stop today. The other people say the people have their finished area (Heritage Center). When they leave A (FGM) so they can take B (Alternative livelihood program) but how can we leave A (FGM) when we don’t have our finish area (Alternative livelihood program)?” he questioned the international partners and said the government also needs to intervene. He emphasized, “You’re wasting your own time. You gave it to Paul you will have to give it to Peter. How we will take B when we don’t have our finish area? The day you finish with it (Heritage centers), everything cut off.”
UN Women Liberia Acknowledgement:
In April of this year, Madam Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Liberia Country Representative, told this paper that the process for eliminating FGM needs multiple and joint efforts, as she points out how the government’s intervention with financial support for alternative livelihood programs can have a significant impact on various fronts in ending female genital mutilation in Liberia.
Traditional women’s participation in FGM is inherently linked to economic sustainability for various reasons. The parents of those initiated often present them with gifts at the climax of the practice. As a result, the recommendation is for the women (Zoes) to gain economic empowerment upon relinquishing the practice.
International partners have regarded this ideology highly, as evidenced by their numerous interventions in various parts of the country. “The process for eliminating FGM needs multiple and joint efforts. We thank the media practitioners for their efforts in supporting efforts for the elimination of FGM in Liberia and request their continuous objectivity in reporting on the matter to effectively support this cause,” Madam Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Liberia Country Representative, told WomenVoices in an interview.
Madam Lamptey: “The government’s intervention with financial support for alternative livelihood programs can have a significant impact on various fronts. Firstly, it can help sustain the achievements made by ongoing programs. Secondly, it enables the scaling up of the alternative livelihood interventions, allowing for a wider reach and greater effectiveness.”
For instance, she cited the EU/UN Spotlight Initiative’s alternative livelihood interventions, which were part of a model strategy to prevent FGM by encouraging practitioners to find alternative sources of income and by launching an intensive awareness campaign to change public perceptions of the practice.
Toothless instruments:
Article V (ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL PRACTICES) of the Maputo Protocol discourages harmful traditional practices and urges governments to prohibit and condemn all forms of harmful practices that negatively affect women’s human rights and are contrary to recognized international standards. “State Parties shall prohibit and condemn all forms of harmful practices that negatively affect the human rights of women and are contrary to recognized international standards.”
The protocol provides that state parties shall take all necessary legislative and other measures to eliminate such practices. “Including a) the creation of public awareness in all sectors of society regarding harmful practices through information, formal and informal education, and outreach programs; b) the prohibition, through legislative measures backed by sanctions, of all forms of female genital mutilation, scarification, medicalization and para-medicalization of female genital mutilation, and all other practices to eradicate them.”
Liberia signaled its commitment to ending FGM during the global convening of world leaders and women’s rights activists at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in 2021, where Liberia pledged to pursue efforts to end gender-based violence and became a signatory to the collective commitment to eradicating harmful practices, including FGM. Liberia remains one of the three West African countries without a law criminalizing FGM, despite having signed and ratified regional and international human rights instruments condemning the practice as a human rights violation, including the Maputo Protocol. The FGM bill before the national legislature is titled ‘Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation of 2022.’
In concurrence with the observance of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), traditional zones of Lofa County on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, committed themselves to positive traditional practices, following the willful closure of their bush schools and the turning over of all sande-related materials to the former Chairman of the National Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia, Chief Zanzan Karwor. Lofa brought to number five the 11 FGM-practicing counties that have performed the traditional rituals, shot down the bush schools, and banned the practice at the Vezela Vocational and Heritage Centre in Lofa County.
International partners unhappy:
International partners, including the United Nations (UN) Women, have been supportive over the last few years in the fight to eradicate FGM from Liberia. However, the news of the abduction or attempt of forceful initiation of four young women for alleged offensive behavior into Traditional Sande Society in Corpus Kpaans Town didn’t sit well with them.
As an implementing partner, UN Women’s commitment has visibly been seen through tangibles from the EU Spotlight Initiative, which funded the construction of heritage centers (Alternative livelihoods) in four of the (11) eleven FGM counties to help get the traditional women off the bushes.
The construction of these centers paved the way for the demonstration of traditional rituals, the turning over of sande-related materials, the closure of bush schools, and the ban in three of the four counties where the centers are. Interestingly, the traditional women of Bong County too became impressed by this development, and voluntarily decided to close the bush schools in the county, with the hope that they too will have a heritage center for alternative livelihoods soon.