Female genital mutilation in Lesotho

Abstract

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice that needs to be eliminated in a free and democratic society. The practice of FGM violates a considerable number of women’s rights, including the right to health in particular. For women to fully enjoy their human rights for governments to see to it that their legal policy framework carters for the protection and promotion of women’s rights. The state’s obligation to domesticate international treaties that deal with the elimination and eradication of harmful practices needs to be taken seriously and timeously implemented. It is common knowledge that there are cultural practices such as FGM that are conventionally deemed to be harmful, discriminatory, inhumane as well as degrading and as a result, such practices must be abandoned. For every person to enjoy human rights, there is a need for enactment and enforcement of laws guaranteeing such rights for all individuals, without discrimination. This study aims to investigating how the practice of FGM violates women’s and girls’ right to health, and physical and psychological integrity in Lesotho. It also seeks to urge the government of Lesotho to domesticate international instruments that deal with the eradication of the practice of FGM.