Incidents of female genital mutilation have risen alarmingly in Somaliland during the pandemic, according to activists and officials interviewed by the AP. One reason: The practice provides income for FGM practitioners, known as “cutters,” who travel door-to-door offering their services. One cutter continues her work despite acknowledging—thanks to decades of public education and advocacy efforts—that there are no medical reasons for a practice that can cause serious lifelong medical and reproductive harm, if not death. It remains legal in Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia.
With the pandemic subsiding, activists hope to recapture their momentum, but another challenge remains: every lawmaker in Somaliland is a man. Even a hard-won law will face certain cultural backlash. Ismail offered a blunt assessment: “Whatever women say … at the end of the day there’s some imam who says, ‘Oh, this is wrong.’ Those few words wipe out all the efforts that have been done.” (Read more Somaliland stories.)
