Progress on the elimination of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa has come to a halt as the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa remains 12 votes from ratification in the African Union (AU). Also called the Maputo Protocol, the Protocol was formulated at the July 2003 conference of the AU in Maputo, Mozambique. Article 5 of this addendum to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights would prohibit, “through legislative measures backed by sanctions…all forms of female genital mutilation.”

So far, only Comoros, Libya, and Rwanda have ratified this protocol though female genital mutilation is banned by legislation in 14 African countries. Before the AU can enforce the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa for all 53 members of the African Union, 15 member countries must adopt the protocol.

Each year, two million girls and women in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab peninsula undergo FGM, a procedure that entails removal of part or all of the external female genitalia, often carried out in unsanitary conditions. Complications range from infection to death and because instruments are reused without sterilization, infections are transmitted from one woman to the other. Given the HIV/AIDS epidemic, efforts to eradicate this procedure have taken on a new sense of urgency.

The main obstacles to the ratification of the Protocol and the eradication of FGM are tradition and poverty. Although FGM predates Islam, the two existed simultaneously for hundreds of years and some sects of Islam, specifically those in Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Chad, in addition to parts of the Middle East, believe that FGM is a religious practice. In fact, contrary to this belief, modern Islamic movements, such as the Muslim Women’s League, cite specific passages in the Quran that state that mutually satisfying sexual relations in marriage are a gift from Allah. Nevertheless, traditional religious and cultural ties to FGM persist.

Adherents to FGM believe circumcision decreases a woman’s sexual drive, thereby making her faithful and pure, augments a woman’s fertility, improves her hygiene and aesthetic appeal, and creates binding sociological and cultural ties that she can never escape. To compound the problem, practitioners of FGM, or “cutters,” encourage continuation of the practice because they often rely on performing circumcision for their livelihood. In Kenya, cutters earn approximately US$12.60 for each operation when 56 percent of other citizens earn less than US$1 per day.

In September of 2004, Kenya hosted the international Nairobi conference to explore strategies for ending FGM. The conference ended with the adoption of the Maputo Protocol. With an FGM prevalence rate as high as 38 percent country-wide and up to 90 percent in some rural regions, Kenya still has only very basic legislation against FGM. Kenya’s “The Children Act 2001” protects only women and girls under the age of 18 from FGM. And like many African states, Kenya fails to enforce its anti-FGM legislation.

Both strong legislation and enforcement are crucial to abolishing FGM, as proven by those countries that have had success in reducing the practice. In Uganda, where FGM is outlawed by the constitution, the number of FGM cases dropped in the Kapchorwa region from 1,100 in 1998 to 647 in 2002. In addition to implementing legislation, the government of Uganda uses one day each year to publicly address FGM and raise awareness of the risks related to the practice.

Uganda has also had success with its approach of addressing the needs of individual villages through the efforts of a diverse group of religious, cultural, and human rights workers. In Egypt, the government is attempting to bring the media into the battle against FGM. One center in Kenya has begun a program to provide capital to cutters, encouraging them to begin other businesses and enterprises. Thus far, however, all effective approaches to ending FGM have incorporated religious and cultural awareness, while focusing also on women’s health and wellness.

The AU and individual African countries have assumed responsibility for the effort to end FGM in order to meet the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals and accelerate Africa’s entrance into the international community as an equal partner. But unless 15 members ratify the Maputo Protocol, the AU will be without a unified policy, and thus powerless in combating FGM within its member states.

The Nairobi conference accomplished little in terms of ratification; the information and approaches shared among the participants may improve the lives of African women in specific states if employed, but these have as yet not been included in national legislations. Although individual countries, such as Uganda, have shown improvement in the declining number of annual FGM cases, it is only through formal AU adoption of the anti-FGM legislation that the practice will be universally eradicated. An additional 12 countries must add their backing to the Maputo Protocol, which has for over a year had only three signatures.