The Edo State Government has warned residents who are still engaged in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in rural communities in the state to desist from it as perpetrators risk a four-year jail term.
The state’s Commissioner for Social Development and Gender Issues, Maria Omozele Edeko, gave the warning over the weekend during the International Day for Zero Tolerance Against Female Genital Mutilation.
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She said Section 11 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law prohibits female genital mutilation and prescribes a four-year jail term for perpetrators of FGM in the state.
The VAPP law was signed in 2021 by Governor Godwin Obaseki to eliminate violence in private and public life, prohibiting all forms of violence against persons and providing maximum protection and effective remedies for victims, as well as punishing offenders of gender-based violence.
“As a ministry and a state, we are going to the grassroots; we are going to the communities where the act of female genital mutilation is endemic to educate them about the provisions of the law and the dangers that female genital mutilation poses to the girl-child,” she said.
According to her, the government will strengthen collaborations with stakeholders to ensure that it gets to rural areas with the advocacy to end the practice.
“It is high time we stopped female genital mutilation.
“It attracts a jail term of four years for any person or a family member that abets, assists, or incites anyone that encourages the practice,” he said.
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