Media urged to help state end FGM by 2022

 

The media has been urged to join hands with the government and other institutions to help achieve President Uhuru Kenyatta’s goal of ending FGM by 2022.

Public Service and Gender CAS Linah Kilimo said the media needed to highlight the consequences of the practice on girls and women.

She spoke on Friday during during the launch of a FGM toolkit for journalists in Nairobi.

“Our President having declared  to end FGM  next year, it's indeed the media that will determine whether we shall achieve this important goal. It is the media that will help us win this last lap,” Kilimo said.

Women’s rights organisation Equality Now together with the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board and the Association of Media Women in Kenya launched a comprehensive toolkit that seeks to provide journalists with guidelines for reporting on FGM.

The toolkit, which was launched on Friday, lays out ethical, survivor-centred principles aimed at enhancing the coverage of FGM by the media in Kenya whilst promoting responsible reporting.

Anti-FGM Board CEO Bernadette Loloju said the media played a critical role in increasing public understanding of social issues including FGM.

She acknowledged that reporting on FGM required a nuanced understanding of the issues surrounding the complexities of the practice. She said the toolkit was particularly timely as Kenya had committed to end the harmful practice by 2022.

“I believe that this toolkit will be a useful guide to journalists practicing in Kenya and beyond and that it will go a long way in assisting them file their anti-FGM reports responsibly and in a manner that helps the public to understand why the country needs to end FGM".

Equality Now director Faiza Mohamed lauded the media for moving the dial in the fight against FGM in Kenya, saying the media was a critical ally in the campaign.

“Responsible reporting can improve public awareness, shift audiences’ perceptions and promote remedies. The media amplifies the voices for those who would otherwise be silenced, exposes institutional gaps which allow women and girls to be harmed in the name of tradition, and helps them to access the necessary support," she said.

"However, alongside drawing much needed attention to FGM, media professionals have a responsibility to ensure that their reporting does not expose the vulnerable ones to further harm or risk”.

AMWIK executive director Marceline Nyambala it was important for Kenya to ensure that no one was left behind in the campaign to end FGM. She challenged the media to ensure that their reports did not alienate or castigate communities where FGM was prevalent as this would lead to discrimination of those communities.

Approximately 21 per cent of women and girls aged between 15 and 49 years in Kenya have undergone FGM according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014.  BY THE STAR