Impacts of COVID-19 on Female Genital Cutting

"Applying a gender-lens to the COVID-19 response is vital in continuing and accelerating work to end FGC, and all forms of gender-based violence [GBV], in order to achieve SDG [Sustainable Development Goal] 5 by 2030."

Emergency situations and humanitarian crises, including health epidemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have disproportionate impacts on women and girls and exacerbate existing structural gender inequalities, which lie at the heart of the practice of female genital cutting (FGC). Lockdowns and school closures imposed to constrain the spread of the novel coronavirus have led to opportunities to carry out FGC undetected. According to Orchid Project, a lack of FGC integration within COVID-19 response efforts leaves girls with no recourse to essential prevention, protection, and support services. This policy briefing from the non-governmental organisation (NGO) highlights the gendered impact and significant challenges to the movement to end FGC presented by COVID-19. It provides findings on COVID-19's impact on FGC trends, as well as recommendations and mitigating strategies that grassroots organisations and activists are using in response, even in the context of shrinking civil society space for FGC organisations and reduced access to funding.

To provide context, the briefing explores the harmful nature of FGC, such as its direct impacts on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of the women and girls affected by it. Recognising these and other harms, the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (Standard 9) requires that "all children are informed about and protected from sexual and gender-based violence [GBV] and have access to survivor-centred response services", making explicit reference to FGC as a form of GBV. Nevertheless, Orchid Project reports, the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 fails to include a standalone objective on responding to GBV during the pandemic, and GBV itself remains an underfunded response service as of this writing.

From March to July 2020, Orchid Project carried out interviews and surveys with 38 grassroots activists and community-based organisations (CBOs), the majority of which are women-led, across 14 countries. Here are some of the regional impacts on COVID-19 that the interviewees described:

• West Africa: Local organisations point to a community perception that COVID-19 is not as serious as Ebola, which has resulted in a weaker adherence to lockdown rules. Social-norms-based harmful practices - e.g., FGC - are therefore likely to continue secretly during COVID-19. Lockdowns and stay-at-home orders have resulted in the closure of safe spaces for girls at risk and survivors of FGC, and health services are said to have been heavily reduced in Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Measures such as hotlines for monitoring and reporting suspected cases of FGC for girls at risk have also come under considerable strain during lockdown. In Nigeria, some former cutters are returning to provision of FGC services as a way to make money while more formal economic opportunities are limited (or eliminated) due to the pandemic.
• East Africa and the Horn: Collective reports from CSOs and activists operating across countries in this region have noted a considerable rise in FGC. Activists and CBOs across the region are also reporting significant barriers to accessing essential SRH services, and lockdown orders have resulted in the closure of essential safe spaces in relation to GBV. In some communities, financial motivations due to pandemic-induced economic downturn play a role: Girls who have been cut are often seen as more marriageable, and the higher bride prices can then be exchanged for food and essential supplies. Furthermore, activists report the reemergence of harmful social norms. For example, elders are spreading the message to communities that a return to cultural rites including FGC will appease the gods and prevent COVID-19; there is concern that these messages will spread.
• Asia: Most organisations and activists across Asia do not have access to vital information about the situation facing women and girls at risk of FGC, and no country across Asia has legislated to ban FGC. Access to essential services for girls at risk and survivors of FGC is also heavily restricted across the Asia region.

In addition to affecting the practice of FGC, there have been effects on the movement to end FGC. Interviewees report "a broader de-prioritisation of FGC in terms of media attention and political will to engage with the issue." For instance: "Activists in Sri Lanka have noted a general difficulty in engaging with the police on violence against women, where complainants are being turned away, and activists across Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Singapore note that advocacy on FGC is being scaled back as a result of governments cautioning that 'now is not the time' to be discussing FGC. In Iran, activists cannot speak openly about FGC in public, and media outlets will no longer engage with the issue."

There are also practical challenges, with nearly all the groups Orchid Project interviewed reporting having experienced restrictions on programming due to stay-at-home and distancing orders. Many organisations have responded by shifting their programming to virtual and media-based formats. However, unequal access to technology and the internet, along with the often high prices of radio and television communication, have been major obstacles to continuing community dialogues about FGC.

That said, many grassroots organisations have adapted to the dilemmas created by COVID-19 and have found ways to strengthen their activism and raise these voices. The experiences of these groups are shared in brief case study text boxes through the briefing. In short, some in-person programming has continued, with social distancing and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). WhatsApp and social media platforms are being used to share key information, stimulate dialogues, and share podcasts. Hotlines have been created for at-risk girls, and some activists are even housing these girls in their own homes. Other organisations have developed behaviour change communication campaigns to promote FGC abandonment to people subject to stay-at-home orders and curfews by erecting posters, sponsoring advertisements on social media, and so on.

Sample recommendations:

• Support community-led data collection, monitoring, and reporting (e.g., through terrain tools, such as OpenStreetMap, to map rural areas and/or polling with free SMS (text messaging)-based technology for surveys and data collection, such as UReport) on the impact of COVID-19 on FGC to inform real-time crisis response and recovery efforts.
• Scale up social and pro bono initiatives available to grassroots and women-led organisations to enable them to access and effectively utilise technology to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 (e.g., by creating digital and mobile phone apps to stimulate dialogue and social norms change).
• Urgently call on the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) to operationalise rhetorical, policy, and financial commitments to ensure GBV is a key priority at field and country level during crisis response and recovery.
• Harness learning from previous epidemics by working with medical professionals and health associations to identify opportunities to disrupt the medicalisation of FGC.