UN Investigates Alleged FGM ‘Surge’

19 suspects have been arrested in Uganda for allegedly aiding and abetting female genital mutilation, after local media reported that 400 women were attacked by armed gangs in the past month. Some of the victims are as young as 12, the Guardian reported. 

The local media reports triggered a UN fact-finding mission investigating the apparent FGM surge in Uganda, Thomson Reuters Foundation reported.

Critics have blasted Ugandan police for not acting sooner. FGM was outlawed in Uganda in 2010, and the practice is waning—Uganda’s FGM prevalence rate is 0.3%. But, in some communities that number still tops 90%, the UN reported.

The FGM ban alone isn’t enough, says Livingstone Sewanyana of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiatives. Banishing the practice starts with sensitizing communities to “the dangers of such an archaic practice to a person’s health, bodily integrity and wellbeing,” he says.