Female genital mutilation in Africa: Politics of criminalisation

Despite increasing legal prohibitions, female genital mutilation (FGM) continues to affect an estimated 92 million women and girls aged 10 and above across Africa.

This SRHM webinar explores Female Genital Mutilation in Africa: Politics of Criminalisation, a new book edited by Satang Nabaneh and published in February 2025, that confronts the persistent gap between legal reform and lived realities.

The book asks: Why has criminalisation become the dominant response, despite its limited impact? And how do African governments navigate the global pressure to legislate versus local resistance?

As the book highlights, “a critical analysis of dominant discourses surrounding criminalisation is imperative” in order to move beyond superficial legal fixes towards strategies rooted in context, community, and complexity.

With opening remarks by SRHM Chief Executive Eszter Kismödi, the conversation will feature a discussion with three contributing authors: Angela J Dawson, Samuel Kimani, and Laura Nyirinkindi, hosted by Satang Nabaneh, each offering grounded, regionally diverse, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

The book is available open access from Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) here.

Host

Satang Nabaneh
Beyond legislation: Examining the efficacy of criminalisation of female genital mutilation in Africa

Satang Nabaneh is an award-winning legal scholar, educator, researcher, and human rights practitioner. She is the Director of Programs and Assistant Professor of Practice at the Human Rights Center and Research Professor of Law at the University of Dayton School of Law. She is affiliated faculty in the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria and a Global Fellow at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the University of Bergen (UiB)’s Centre on Law & Social Transformation. She is also a member of the Panel of Experts of the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA). Nabaneh served as the Legal Adviser to the African Union’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa.   In The Gambia, Satang co-founded Think Young Women (TYW), which empowers the next generation of women leaders, served as the coordinator of the Female Lawyers Association-Gambia (FLAG) and founded Law Hub Gambia, a research institute dedicated to advancing legal knowledge and human rights. She is the author of Choice and conscience: Lessons from South Africa for a global debate (PULP, 2023) and co-edited The Gambia in transition: Towards a new constitutional order (PULP, 2022) and Sexual harassment, law and human rights in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023). Nabaneh has been featured in prominent media outlets, including The New York Times, Reuters, Time, and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Think Global Health. In 2023, she earned the Women in Law-Austria Justitia Award in the International Academic category in recognition of her efforts as a scholar-activist dedicated to advancing African women in law through research, advocacy and mentoring. She was named one of 10 exceptionally talented African scholars to watch in 2024 by The Africa Report. She holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of The Gambia, LLM and LLD from the University of Pretoria and PhD from the University of Washington.

Speakers

Angela J Dawson
Research and female genital mutilation prevention: Evidence from Africa

Angela J Dawson is a Professor of public health and the Associate Dean of Research at the Faculty of Health at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Angela is a social scientist with expertise in maternal and reproductive health service delivery to priority populations in Australia and internationally. Angela was an NHMRC Translational research fellow examining approaches to counselling women with female genital mutilation (FGM) at the point of care and the recipient of the Sax Prize for research impact for her work in women’s health. Her mixed methods research focuses on delivering co-designed interventions to address health inequity and improve access to quality health care.

Samuel Kimani
Medicalisation of female genital mutilation/cutting: Ethical dimensions

Samuel Kimani is an Associate Professor in the department of Nursing at the University of Nairobi, where he teaches global health and nursing. He obtained his PhD from the University of Nairobi in 2014. His work focuses on interventions addressing harmful practices affecting women, girls, and children. Particularly, his research focuses on evidence-based interventions on medicalisation of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and health system readiness towards FGM/C prevention and response.

Laura Nyirinkindi
A case commentary on law and advocacy for women in Uganda v the Attorney General: Exploring the legal steps taken in abolishing the practice of female genital mutilation and challenges with implementing the decision

Laura Nyirinkindi holds a master’s degree in international human rights Law from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and a Law Degree from Makerere University, Uganda. She is a Senior Managing Consultant of Pro Initiatives Agency, a human rights firm based in Uganda. Ms. Nyirinkindi assumed leadership positions in civil society organisations in Africa, Europe and America as a means to mainstream women’s rights in the human rights movement. She served on the African Development Bank’s Civil Society Committee where she advocated for gender inclusive socio-economic development on the continent. She is currently the Africa Regional Vice President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (Federación Internacional de Abogadas), promoting transboundary advocacy and common action around shared values and objectives on the rights of women and girls globally. She has worked in 36 countries, collaborating with African Union institutions like the Africa Peer Review Mechanism and United Nations agencies such as UN Women, UNICEF, UNHCR, OHCHR and national human rights commissions. Ms. Nyirinkindi taught international human rights law at the university level in Uganda and has published several articles on the rights of women in Africa.

Cover image by David Ikpo.