By Emma Black

A courageous survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM), has urged the Sierra Leonean government to enforce a landmark ruling by the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which on July 8, 2025, held the state accountable for failing to safeguard her rights.

The ordeal began on September 16, 2016, when she was forcibly subjected to FGM in Kondebutehun, Kenema District, as retribution for reporting a neighbor’s dispute, an act that left her blindfolded, restrained, and denied food, water, or medical care until rescued by police, activists, and a journalist.

Speaking at a press briefing hosted by Purposeful yesterday, Kadijatu shared her harrowing experience publicly for the first time, revealing the trauma of her assault and the subsequent threats from soweis traditional FGM practitioners that drove her into three years of exile in Liberia.

Supported by Purposeful and the Forum Against Harmful Practices (FAHP), she pursued justice through the ECOWAS Court, which ruled in her favor, affirming FGM as an act of violence and torture.

Expressing her exasperation nine years after the incident, Kadijatu declared, Sometimes I feel like a chicken has more rights than a woman in this our Sierra Leone, a poignant cry for accountability.

At the briefing, she boldly called for justice for all Sierra Leonean women and girls let down by society and the courts, while also releasing a self-penned article detailing her journey, with advocates pressing media to amplify her voice.

The ECOWAS ruling demands urgent enforcement, yet Sierra Leone remains among the few African nations without a specific law banning FGM.

Although the recently amended Child Rights Act (CRA) was anticipated to protect children from the practice, Parliament’s public disclaimer that the Act does not criminalize exposing FGM has sparked outrage among activists, who label it a dangerous contradiction undermining progress.

Copyright –Published in Expo Times News on Wednesday, 24th September, 2025 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)