The underground reality of female genital mutilation among urban migrant communities in Uganda

By Jumbwike Sam

At a UNICEF-Uganda sponsored workshop that was organized by Solutions for People(S4P) and Kampala Capital City Authority on strengthening Kampala’s Risk Communication and Community Engagement Systems in late 2025, Peer Educators from across the 5 Divisions were tasked to highlight the unique challenges that were inhibiting their effectiveness in delivering health information in their localities.

Language barrier and communal insularity among Somali communities, Ethiopians, Eritreans and Karimojongs were listed as key stumbling blocks for Peer Educator in their efforts to engage migrant communities in areas of Namirembe, Kisenyi, Kabalagala, Kansanga and Kagugube. They barely spoke English, Swahili, Luganda or other native languages and hardly desired to have interactions beyond business transactions. Many information, education and communication materials that are not in their languages ended up being ignored and not serving their intended purposes.

According to the UNCHR-Uganda Population Dashboard and Settlement Profiles, Kampala had 157,276 Refugees and Asylum seekers as of 1st January 2026, of which 55361 were Eritreans, 38381-Somalians while 14,478 were Ethiopians. 13% of them were young girls between 0-17 years while 31% were women between 18-59 years.

Going by the UNICEF’s 2025 report of the Profile of Female Genital Mutilation in Eastern and Southern Africa, Eritreans and Ethiopians perform Female Genital Mutilation on girls before they are 5 years while Somalis mutilate the girls between 5-9 years. 50% of the girls and women are cut irrespective of their social status, education level and it highly prevalent among Somalis regardless of their country of residence.

Whereas Uganda stands head and shoulders above her neighbors in the fight against FGM, the practice appears to be flourishing underground. Many families among the migrant communities still cherish Female Genital Mutilation as a transitional rite to womanhood, marriageability and social acceptance. The proponents are still highly treasured in their communities, and the victims are often reluctant to speak out, fearing the resultant violence and social rejection. Their communal secrecy effectively shields the FGM perpetrators from the scrutiny of the public eye.

While we pride in Uganda’s deterrent mechanisms like the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2010, it does little to address the deeply entrenched beliefs about gender, purity and tradition among the migrant communities. There is need to harmonize the disconnect between the law on paper and the realities on ground. UNHCR and the Office of the Prime Minister should translate the FGM Prohibition Act into different refugee languages and ensure that they get to understand the implications of cutting girls in Uganda.

With the ever increasing number of refugee inflows to Uganda, it is imperative to prioritize migrant community-centered FGM campaigns that are culturally relevant to their contexts. It is high time we created safer spaces for girls and women from migrant communities to speak out about FGM, offer psychological support, and break the walls to sniff out the perpetrators from the migrant communities. Many institutions of higher learning have students from Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia who can be utilized as peer educators and change agents within the migrant communities.

The Writer works with Saam Salley Humanitarian Ad Agency