The UN’s role in tackling female genital cutting in Sierra Leone: a post-colonial analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/2176-6665.2025v30e52042Keywords:
Local culture, Human rights, Female genital mutilation, peacebuilding, UNIPSILAbstract
This article analyzes the UN’s actions regarding the Female Genital Cutting in Sierra Leone, from a post-colonial perspective. It seeks to understand how the UN confronts practices that are legitimized as local tradition but classified as violations of the human rights of women and girls. This is a qualitative study, based on a documentary analysis of reports from the UNIPSIL peacekeeping mission (2009-2014) and specialized literature on the subject. It concludes that although the UN does tend to view the practice of FGC as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, adopting normative and educational measures to combat it, its approach tends to disregard structural factors such as economic inequality and post-colonial dependency. In this way, the organization reinforces hierarchies between the local and the international, limiting the effectiveness of its actions.
Downloads
References
ALTHAUS, Frances A. Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights? International Family Planning Perspectives, v. 23, n. 3, p. 130-133, 1997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2950769
ALVES, José Augusto Lindgren. Os Direitos Humanos na Pós-Modernidade. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2013.
AMEYAW, Edward Kwabena et al. Do educated women in Sierra Leone support discontinuation of female genital mutilation/cutting? Evidence from the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey. Reproductive Health, v. 17, n. 1, p. 174, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-01027-1
BARRETO, José-Manuel. A universal history of infamy: human rights, Eurocentrism and modernity as crisis. In: SINGH, Prabhakar; MAYER, Benoît (org.). Critical International Law: Postrealism, Postcolonialism, and Transnationalism. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. p. 143-166. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450633.003.0006
BJÄLKANDER, Owolabi et al. Health complications of female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone. International Journal of Women’s Health, v. 4, p. 321-331, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S32670
BOSIRE, T. O. Politics of Female Genital Cutting (FGC), Human Rights and the Sierra Leone State: The Case of Bondo Secret Society. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
BROWN, E. et al. Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: are young men allies in social change programmes? Reproductive Health Matters, v. 24, n. 47, p. 118-125, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.06.002
BUTLER, Judith. Problemas de gênero: feminismo e subversão da identidade. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 2018.
CARVALHO, Erika. Rethinking Female Genital Cutting through Postcolonial Lens. 2024. Dissertação (Mestrado) – The American University in Cairo, 2024. Disponível em: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2262. Acesso em: 18 abr. 2025.
CÉSAIRE, Aimé. Discurso sobre o colonialismo. São Paulo: Veneta, 2020.
CHESNOKOVA, Tatyana; VAITHIANATHAN, Rhema. The Economics of Female Genital Cutting. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, v. 10, n. 1, p. 1-36, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.2565
CLOWARD, Karisa. When Norms Collide: Local Responses to Activism against Female Genital Mutilation and Early Marriage. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190274917.001.0001
ELMORALLY, Reham. Decolonizing Female Genital Mutilation: A Harmful Yet Identity-Affirming Practice. In: BHANDARI, Medani P. (ed.). Women and Society. London: IntechOpen, 2024. p. 1-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108930. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109837
EU NÃO SOU UMA BRUXA. Direção: Rungano Nyoni. Produção: Juliette Grandmont e Emily Morgan. Zâmbia, Reino Unido, França: Clandestine Films, Soda Pictures, 2017. 1 DVD (92 min.), son., color.
FANON, Frantz. Os condenados da terra. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1961.
FYFE, Christopher. A History of Sierra Leone. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
GIBSON, Mhairi A. et al. Abandoning female genital mutilation/cutting (FGMC) is an emerging but costly parental investment strategy in rural Ethiopia. Social Science & Medicine, v. 335, p. 116170, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116170
GIKUNDA, George Kimathi; BABU, Paul Kelvin. The Intersection of Economy and Tradition: Understanding FGM Prevalence in Samburu County, Kenya. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, v. 13, n. 12, p. 80-88, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.13.12.2023.p14409
GROVOGUI, S. N. Mind, Body, and Gut! Elements of a Postcolonial Human Rights Discourse. In: JONES, B. G. (org.). Decolonizing International Relations. New Yor: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006. p. 179-196.
HARAWAY, Donna. Saberes localizados: a questão da ciência para o feminismo e o privilégio da perspectiva parcial. Cadernos Pagu, n. 5, p. 7-41, 1995.
HUDSON, Heidi. Decolonising gender and peacebuilding: feminist frontiers and border thinking in Africa. Peacebuilding, v. 4, n. 2, p. 155-172, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2016.1192242
HUGHES, Lotte. Alternative rites of passage: faith, rights, and performance in FGM/C abandonment campaigns in Kenya. African Studies, v. 77, n. 2, p. 274-292, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2018.1452860
KRENAK, Ailton. Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo. 2. ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.
KUP, Alexander. P. Sierra Leone: A Concise History. London: David & Charles, 1975.
LANDER, Edgardo (org.). A colonialidade do saber: eurocentrismo e ciências sociais – perspectivas latino-americanas. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: Clacso, 2005.
MALDONADO-TORRES, Nelson. On the coloniality of being: contributions to the development of a concept. Cultural Studies, v. 21, n. 2-3, p. 240-270, 2007. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502380601162548
MGBAKO, Chi et al. Penetrating the Silence in Sierra Leone: A Blueprint for the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation. Harvard Human Rights Journal, v. 23, p. 111, 2010.
MKUWA, Serafina et al. The role of communities and leadership in ending female genital mutilation in Tanzania: an exploratory cross-sectional qualitative study in Tanga. BMC Public Health, v. 23, n. 1, p. 1-8, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-15086-z
MONUSCO. Resolutions 1325 and 1820. Sem data. Disponível em: https://monusco.unmissions.org/en/resolutions-1325-and-1820. Acesso em: 01 dez. 2023.
NKWEDE, Joseph; USONKA, Cornelia. Conflict and Civil Wars in Africa: The Sierra Leonean Experience. African Journal of Politics and Administrative Studies, v. 12, p. 1-16, 2019.
NYASHANU, Mathew; MGUNI, Maureen. Challenges in combatting female genital mutilation: narratives of black Sub-Saharan African (BSSA) women in the English West Midlands region. International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, v. 14, n. 4, p. 348-358, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-09-2020-0080
OMS. Female genital mutilation. 2023. Disponível em: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation. Acesso em: 01 dez. 2023.
ONU. Assembleia Geral da ONU. Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos. (217 [III] A). Paris, 1948. Disponível em: https://www.ohchr.org/en/human-rights/universal-declaration/translations/portuguese?LangID=por. Acesso em: 24 jun. 2024.
ONU. Eighth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 14 mar. 2012a. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/N1224870.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Eleventh report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 12 set. 2013b. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/secretary-generals-reports-0. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Fifth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 17 set. 2010a. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/UNSC_Report_UNIPSIL.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Final report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 17 mar. 2014. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/secretary-generals-reports-0. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. First report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 30 jan. 2009a. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/sgrsl3.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Fourth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 15 mar. 2010b. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/sgrpt_1026298.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Gender equality and women, peace and security: Resource package. Gender Unit. Department of Peace Operations, United Nations, 2020. Disponível em: https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/gewps19_respack_v7_eng_digital.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Ninth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 31 ago. 2012b. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/N1247514.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Second report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 22 maio 2009b. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/sgrsl2.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Seventh report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 2 set. 2011a. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/N1148486.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Sierra Leone: Female genital mutilation ‘amounts to torture,’ impunity must end. UN News, 24 ago. 2022. Disponível em: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/08/1125322. Acesso em: 19 set. 2024.
ONU. Sixth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 9 mar. 2011b. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/SL_2011_119.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. Tenth report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 27 fev. 2013a. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/N1324057.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
ONU. The United Nations in Sierra Leone. Sem data. Disponível em: https://sierraleone.un.org/en/about/about-the-un/. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2023.
ONU. Third report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Sierra Leone. 1 set. 2009c. Disponível em: https://unipsil.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/old_dnn/sgrsl1.pdf. Acesso em: 09 jul. 2020.
OYĚWÙMÍ, Oyèrónkẹ́. A invenção das mulheres: construindo um sentido africano para os discursos ocidentais de gênero. Rio de Janeiro: Bazar do Tempo, 2021.
PENNA, David R.; Campbell, Patricia J. Human Rights and Culture: Beyond Universality and Relativism. Third World Quarterly, v. 19, n. 1, p. 7-27, 1998. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436599814505
PIRES, Thula Rafaela de Oliveira. Por uma concepção amefricana de direitos humanos. In: HOLLANDA, Heloísa Buarque de (org.). Pensamento feminista hoje: perspectivas decoloniais. Rio de Janeiro: Bazar do Tempo, 2020. p. 298-318.
QUIJANO, Aníbal. Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism, and Latin America. Nepantla: Views from South, v. 1, n. 3, p. 533-580, 2000.
SABSAY, Leticia. Permeable Bodies: Vulnerability, Affective Powers, Hegemony. In: BUTLER, Judith; GAMBETTI, Zeynep; SABSAY, Leticia (ed.). Vulnerability in Resistance. Durham: Duke University Press, 2016. p. 278-302. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11vc78r.18
SHARMON, Lynnette Monagan. Patriarchy: Perpetuating the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, v. 2, n. 1, p. 83-101, 2010.
SHEPHERD, Laura J. Gender, UN Peacebuilding, and the Politics of Space: Locating Legitimacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199982721.001.0001
SILBERFEIN, Marilyn. The geopolitics of conflict and diamonds in Sierra Leone. Geopolitics, v. 9, n. 1, p. 213-241, 2004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14650040412331307892
SMITH, Sarah. The production of legitimacy: race and gender in peacebuilding praxis. International Studies Review, v. 21, n. 4, p. 705-715, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viz054
UNICEF. Female genital mutilation (FGM). 2025. Disponível em: https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/female-genital-mutilation/. Acesso em: 14 jul. 2025.
UNRIC. Nações Unidas – Centro Regional de Informação para a Europa Ocidental. Mutilação Genital Feminina: uma preocupação global, uma resposta global. 2015. Disponível em: https://unric.org/pt/mutilacao-genital-feminina-uma-preocupacao-global-uma-resposta-global/. Acesso em: 27 set. 2024.
UZGALIS, William. John Locke, Racism, Slavery, and Indian Lands. In: ZACK, Naomi (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Race. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. p. 21-30. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190236953.013.41
VAN BAVEL, Hannelore. Is Anti-FGM Legislation Cultural Imperialism? Interrogating Kenya’s Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act. Social & Legal Studies, v. 32, n. 3, p. 378-398, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221118862
VAN BAVEL, Hannelore; CARVER, Natasha; TAKYIAKWAA, Dorothy. A genealogy of silencing: tracing the impact of critiques of the hegemonic discourse on female genital mutilation. Women’s History Review, [s. l.], publicado online em: 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2024.2434216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/2uv75
WALLERSTEIN, Immanuel. World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822399018
ZACK-WILLIAMS, Alfred B. Sierra Leone: The Political Economy of Civil War, 1991-98. Third World Quarterly, v. 20, n. 1, p. 143-162, 1999. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436599913965
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Kelvin Araújo da Nóbrega Dias, Raquel Bezerra Cavalcanti Leal de Melo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright on articles published in Mediações belongs to the author(s): in the case of partial or entire republication of the original publication, we ask author(s) to indicate the original publication in the periodical.
Mediações uses the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which allows Open Access, enabling any user to read, download, copy and disseminate its content so long as adequately referenced.
The opinions expressed by the author(s) are their sole responsibility.
