Death of young woman after FGM revives calls for ban in Sierra Leone

Source: The Guardian

Death of young woman after FGM revives calls for ban in Sierra Leone

Maseray Sei, 21, was found dead after undergoing the procedure in a centuries-old ritual carried out by a secret society for women

Emmanuel Akinwotu
Fri 31 Dec 2021 07.00 GMT

The death of a young woman in Sierra Leone, almost immediately after undergoing female genital mutilation, has sparked outrage and revived calls to end the practice.

The body of 21-year-old Maseray Sei was found on 20 December at Nyandeni village in Bonthe district, southern Sierra Leone, a day after the FGM took place. Sei’s family said that after the procedure the mother of two boys complained of a migraine and was in pain, with complications from FGM thought to be the cause, according to activists working on the case.

The family are now pressing for a postmortem. Sei’s body was found in a “Bondo bush”, the enclosure of a house belonging to the centuries-old secret women’s Bondo society, common across largely rural Sierra Leone, where FGM often takes place.

Sierra Leone has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, with nine out of 10 women and girls aged between 15 and 49 affected, according to Unicef. Despite restrictions on secret societies since the Ebola outbreak in 2014, and particularly on their initiation rites, of which FGM is often a part, the practice remains legal in Sierra Leone, with politicians accused of making statements backing FGM and of funding Bondo houses.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/dec/31/death-of-young-woman-after-fgm-revives-calls-for-ban-in-sierra-leone