Kadijatu's Fight for Justice: Enforcing the ECOWAS Ruling Against FGM in Sierra Leone

Kadijatu's Fight for Justice: Enforcing the ECOWAS Ruling Against FGM in Sierra Leone

Kadijatu, a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM), has called on Sierra Leone to enforce a recent ECOWAS Court of Justice ruling that found the government responsible for failing to protect her rights. She had been forcibly subjected to FGM in Kondebutehun, Kenema District, on September 16, 2016, as punishment for reporting an argument with a neighbour. 

Kadijatu recounted yesterday at purposesful,during a press briefing, that she was blindfolded, restrained, cut without consent, and held without food, water, or medical care until police, activists, and a journalist intervened.

Even after hospitalization, she said, continued threats from the soweis (traditional practitioners of FGM) forced her into exile in Liberia for three years. 

With the support of Purposeful and the Forum Against Harmful Practices (FAHP), she took her case to the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which, on July 8, 2025, ruled in her favour.

Kadijatu expressed her frustration, stating that nine years after the assault, she was still waiting for justice. She lamented, "Sometimes I feel like a chicken has more rights than a woman in this our Sierra Leone."

At a recent press briefing, Kadijatu bravely shared her story publicly for the first time, demanding justice for every Sierra Leonean woman or girl who has been failed by society and the courts. 

She has also authored an article detailing her experience in her own words, and advocates are urging the media to publish and amplify it.

The ECOWAS Court's decision unequivocally states that FGM is violence and torture, and that the Government of Sierra Leone failed in its duty to protect. Enforcement of this judgment is now considered urgent.

Sierra Leone remains one of the few African countries without an explicit law criminalizing FGM. 

While the recently amended Child Rights Act (CRA) was expected to outlaw the practice for children, Parliament issued a public disclaimer, stating that the Act "does not criminalize exposing FGM," a contradiction that activists describe as dangerous.