Kenya's FGM law: Six activities that can lead to prosecution and imprisonment

The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011, sets out these offences under Sections 19 to 24.

The law has come back into focus following a police raid in Mororo village, Bangale Sub-County, Tana River, where officers recovered suspected surgical equipment and arrested one person in an operation targeting an alleged FGM network.

Police also reported that seven girls were believed to have undergone the procedure. Investigations and efforts to trace other people involved were ongoing.

Six activities criminalised by the Act

1. Performing FGM

Section 19 makes it an offence for anyone to perform female genital mutilation on another person.

The provision also covers a person undergoing training to become a medical practitioner or midwife while under professional supervision.

The Act defines FGM to include procedures involving partial or total removal of female genitalia, injury to female genital organs or other harmful procedures carried out for non-medical reasons.

2. Aiding, abetting or arranging the procedure

Under Section 20, a person commits an offence by aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring another person to perform FGM.

The provision also covers encouraging or arranging for someone to undergo the procedure.

A person does not have to carry out the cutting personally to face prosecution.

Their involvement in organising or facilitating it can amount to a separate offence.

3. Taking someone across borders for FGM

Section 21 criminalises taking another person from Kenya to another country, or arranging for someone to be brought into Kenya from abroad, with the intention of subjecting that person to FGM.

The provision targets attempts to evade Kenya's prohibition by arranging the procedure in another country or bringing someone into Kenya for that purpose.

4. Allowing premises to be used

A person who knowingly allows premises under their control or responsibility to be used for performing FGM commits an offence under Section 22.

This can expose property owners or people responsible for premises to prosecution where they knowingly permit the location to be used for the illegal procedure.

5. Possessing tools or equipment for FGM

Section 23 criminalises possession of tools or equipment for a purpose connected with performing FGM.

The provision concerns possession linked to the practice, not the ordinary possession of medical instruments without evidence of such a purpose.

The intended use of the equipment is central to the offence.

6. Failing to report a planned or ongoing offence

Section 24 makes it an offence for a person who is aware that FGM has been committed, is being carried out or is intended to be committed to fail to report it to a law enforcement officer.

The provision places a legal reporting obligation on people with knowledge of an offence, including information that a procedure is being planned.

What penalties does the law prescribe?

Under Section 29, a person convicted of an offence under the Act is liable to imprisonment for a term of at least three years, a fine of at least Sh200,000, or both.

Where someone dies in the process of FGM, Section 19 provides for life imprisonment upon conviction.

The Act also expressly states that a person's consent to FGM is not a defence to a charge against the person who performed it.

Cultural, religious or customary justifications do not override the prohibition.

There are limited medical exceptions.

The Act does not criminalise a genuinely necessary surgical operation performed by an approved medical practitioner for a person's physical or mental health, or specified procedures connected with labour or childbirth performed by the professionals authorised under the law.

A separate offence involving abusive language

The six activities above cover Sections 19 to 24.

The Act contains another offence under Section 25:

Using derogatory or abusive language intended to ridicule, embarrass or harm a woman for not undergoing FGM, or a man for marrying or supporting a woman who has not undergone the practice.

That separate offence carries a minimum six-month prison term, a fine of at least Sh50,000, or both.

The law therefore reaches beyond the person holding the cutting instrument.

Anyone with knowledge of a planned operation, involvement in arranging it or control over premises used for it may have legal responsibility Reporting suspected cases to law enforcement can help protect girls before the procedure takes place.