Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).
Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, said The Guardian quoting local reports.
Aminata Koroma, the executive secretary of the Forum Against Harmful Practices (FAHP), an organisation working to end FGM in Sierra Leone, said the girls’ parents and those who cut them were in police custody.
FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, and is considered a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights. In 2012 the UN passed a resolution to ban it, but it is still practised in about 30 countries.
Unicef will publish new figures on its global prevalence next month, but current estimates show at least 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM.