Journalists in Sierra Leone are reporting that campaigns to outlaw female genital mutilation (FMG) aren't working.Despite the fact that the majority of people believe FGM to be inhuman and no longer relevant in civilised society, certain cultural groups in the west African country are still dominant in their control of the practice.
One example of such a group is the Bondo. The secret society, made up entirely of women, exists to 'prepare' young girls for adulthood and married life -part of which insists upon FGM. The society wields so much power in Sierra Leone that even the government is reluctant to confront it.
Hence its refusal to declare its position on the outlawing of FGM.
Instead of the outright ban that 15 other African states have imposed, Sierra Leone's authorities are asking that girls under the age of 18 not be inducted into the Bondo society.
Bondo initiation thrives most in provincial areas, but FGM is rife throughout the country -even in the west, where campaigners have attempted to instil a ban in the past.
In southern Sierra Leone girls are brought up to believe that FGM is a rite of passage that is required lest they be shunned by their peers and ostracized by their families and the wider society.
The facts of FGM are stark -unsanitary and infected razor blades used to cut out the clitoris and labia minora (this is the form FGM usually takes in Sierra Leone; other methods are used elsewhere), resulting in difficulty giving birth and an increased risk of death; a practice carried out on an estimated 130 million women across the world, including 90% of Sierra Leone's female population.
Despite politicians across Africa pushing for both a continent-wide ban on the practice and a UN resolution to enforce it, human rights groups within Sierra Leone are now falling silent on the subject, fearful of offending long-held tradition.
The 2012 Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council has also called for a ban.
A large part of the problem is that whilst certain African states have a full ban in place, some do not have the means to enforce it.
In May MPs from across Africa met in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, to discuss what actions could be taken to enforce a continent-wide ban. Sierra Leone's representatives appeared less than interested in the discussions.
The government is said to be reluctant to voice concerns over FGM because of fear that it will lose the vote of women who still approve of the practice. It has even been suggested that some politicians in Sierra Leone are stating their support for Bondo initiation in order to win votes.
The opposition human rights advocates are facing in Sierra Leone is demonstrated by the case of Mama Fanny, a campaigner in the southern Moyamba district who has relentlessly encouraged mothers to refuse Bondo initiation for the daughters, stating health and general female wellbeing as her primary reasons. She has repeatedly been targeted by members of the Bondo society, who have threatened to harm her if she carries on her work.
Another case, also in the south of the country, but this time in the Bonthe district, shows the tensions that FGM can bring in its wake. A month ago, a 12 year old girl bled to death after having FGM inflicted on her by her aunt, without the knowledge of her parents. When the aunt's actions were uncovered a revenge mission was led by the child's family and local youths. By the time they reached the area where the body had been found, the Bondo members involved had fled.
Whatever the deep-set cultural reasons behind Sierra Leone's reluctance to abandon this most appalling of traditions, it appears that, with efforts to enforce a ban turning backward, it may be up to the rest of the world to take on the voice of these silent women and shame the country into change.
