ECOWAS Urges Region-Wide Ban on FGM During Freetown High-Level Meeting

Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have reportedly urged all member states to ban Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), highlighting the practice as a major factor in the exploitation and migration of children in the region.

The call was made during a joint committee meeting in Freetown themed “Parliamentary approaches to safeguarding children in street situations and addressing child exploitation in the ECOWAS region.”

Gambia was praised for its decisive action in banning FGM. Gambian MP Maimuna Ceesay noted that her country passed the law in 2015 and successfully resisted a controversial bill in 2024 that sought to repeal it.

She emphasized that safeguarding children should extend beyond national parliaments, saying, “If ECOWAS can guarantee free movement of goods and people, we can guarantee the protection of children in the street. Any region that does not have the power to protect its children or their future is a failed region.”

Dominic Napare, MP from Ghana, warned that porous borders allow perpetrators to exploit loopholes. “In Ghana Female Genital Mutilation has been criminalized, but because of our porous borders, they go to other countries and perpetrate the act and return back to Ghana,” he said, calling on other ECOWAS members to adopt strong anti-FGM laws.

Liberian MP Moima Briggs Mensah also highlighted the importance of legal clarity, stressing that banning FGM does not undermine cultural traditions.

“The Gambia is a highly traditional country, but banning FGM did not make them less traditional. It only shows that they are serious in protecting girls from such a practice,” she said. Mensah further noted that harmful practices like FGM drive children from rural areas to urban centers to escape them.

Sierra Leone MP Sahr Emerson Lamina added that diplomacy still hinders legislative action in some countries. “In Sierra Leone we still play diplomacy, it is not quite clear,” he said, questioning whether studies have been conducted to assess the impact of banning FGM in countries like the Gambia on children’s welfare.

The meeting notably affirmed that regional cooperation is essential to ending harmful practices affecting children, with multiple MPs reiterating the need for ECOWAS-wide legislation to criminalize FGM and protect children across West Africa.