Guinea: FGM is banned by law, yet more than 9 in 10 women are cut. Why the law is not enough

In Guinea, 95% of women aged 15 to 49 have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), one of the highest rates in the world [1]. Among girls aged 0 to 14, 39% are already cut, and more than a third of them (35%) were cut by a health worker [1][3]. FGM is banned by the Penal Code, the Children’s Code and, since September 2025, the new Constitution [3][5]. Yet the UN reported only 12 successful prosecutions in 2025 [5]. A five-year-old girl in Conakry had to be rushed to hospital with severe bleeding before a court in the capital handed down what officials called its first prison terms for excision [10].

Content note: this article describes the deaths of young girls after FGM.

A ban that has existed for decades

Guinea’s fight against FGM is not new. Sources date the first ban to 1964 or 1965 [4]. The reproductive health law of 10 July 2000 (L/2000/010/AN) named FGM as a crime but set no penalty [3][4]. The 2008 Children’s Code (L/2008/011/AN, Articles 405 to 410) repeated the ban and obliged health facilities to care for victims and alert the authorities [3]. The 2016 Penal Code (Law 2016/059/AN, Articles 258 to 261) set the penalties that apply today [3]. A revised Children’s Code (L/2019/0059/AN) was adopted in December 2019 and entered into force in 2020; UNICEF and UNFPA cite its Article 775 as criminalising FGM [19][27][30].

Political change has not removed the ban, but it has blurred it at times. After the military took power on 5 September 2021, the Transition Charter did not explicitly prohibit FGM, although it protected physical integrity [8][9]. UNICEF urged members of the National Transition Council in 2023 to keep the ban in the future constitution [20]. The Constitution adopted by referendum in September 2025 bans FGM in Article 9 [5]. General Mamady Doumbouya, who led the 2021 coup, won the presidential election of 28 December 2025 with 86.72% of the provisional vote [28].

Cases and events, 2021 to 2026

There is no public national register of FGM cases, arrests or trials in Guinea. The list below is based on press reports, UN reports and US State Department reports that we could open. It is therefore partial. Most deaths are never reported: in 2023, women told Guinéenews that families are asked to keep deaths after excision secret [17].

2021

• Religious position. The General Secretariat of Religious Affairs issued a fatwa stating that FGM is not a religious practice [19].
• Political commitments. The transition government signed five commitments to end violence against children, including FGM [19]. On 15 December 2021, the Prime Minister signed a written commitment to end gender-based violence, with a target of reducing FGM by 10% [4].
• Enforcement. The US State Department wrote that the anti-FGM laws “were not effectively or regularly enforced” and gave no figures for arrests or convictions [8].

2022

• February, Conakry. Leaders of the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs told women at a public session that no religion encourages FGM and that they should follow doctors’ advice [21].
• July and August, Upper Guinea. Guinéenews reported that a young girl died in Kankanya village (Kouroussa prefecture) after an elderly excisor could not stop her bleeding, and that a ten-year-old girl died “in the hands of an excisor” in July. No arrest or trial was reported [16].
• Whole year. According to the Ministry of Women’s Promotion, 763 public declarations of abandonment were recorded in communities in 2021 and 2022 [18]. About 266,450 people were reached by community awareness activities in 2022 [19].

2023

• January. 37 justice, police, gendarmerie and health officers were trained on FGM prevention and care [9].
• January to July. 105 communities in N’Zérékoré, Mamou, Labé and Faranah publicly committed to abandon FGM and child marriage [9]. Over the whole year, UNFPA counted 376 new villages making such declarations [7].
• February, Conakry. Witnesses interviewed by Guinéenews described the death of a girl under three from blood loss after excision, and an excisor in Matam who said she moved her work to remote villages to avoid NGOs and the authorities. No place, date or legal follow-up was given [17].
• 3 to 4 April. Members of the National Transition Council were trained on FGM. Its first vice-president named weak law enforcement, social pressure and hesitation among some religious leaders as reasons the practice continues [20].
• 4 September. The government launched a national data platform on FGM [9].

2024

• Conakry. Two neighbourhoods of the capital publicly committed to abandon FGM, the first such commitments in Conakry since independence, according to UNFPA. Community monitoring reported or prevented 81 FGM cases [6].
• October. A civil society report to the UN Universal Periodic Review stated that, since 2018, there had been 73 arrests, 73 cases brought to court and 29 convictions or sanctions for FGM (UNFPA-UNICEF data), and that police often refuse to act, saying the practice is “culture” [25].
• December. The Swiss Refugee Council concluded that prosecutions remain rare and sentences lenient [4].
• We found no press report of a specific court case or death in 2024 in the sources we could open. This does not mean none occurred.

2025

• August, Koloma (Gbessia commune, Conakry). A young girl died some weeks after being excised while on holiday. Reports differ on her age (three or five) [12][13]. The woman suspected of cutting her, a relative, was arrested by the gendarmerie after a complaint by the girl’s maternal grandmother and placed in pre-trial detention. Her family denied that excision caused the death. Local sources reported attempts by the families to settle the matter “amicably” to avoid prosecution [12][13]. We found no verdict.
• 21 to 22 August, Moata (Yalenzou sub-prefecture, N’Zérékoré). The gendarmerie dismantled an excision camp after a 13-year-old girl was cut and nearly died. Twelve other girls in the camp had reportedly already been cut. The girl’s paternal grandmother, two excisors, a community leader and the village treasurer were arrested. The regional inspector for women’s promotion said the State would join the case and appeal any suspended sentence [11].
• 29 August, Kaloum court (Conakry). Four women were convicted over the excision of a five-year-old girl in Tamara (Kassa island), who had been rushed to Ignace Deen hospital with severe bleeding. The excisor and the girl’s grandmother received one year in prison; two others, convicted of obstructing the investigation, received five months. Officials called the verdict “historic” and a first for Conakry [10].
• Whole year. UNFPA reported 12 FGM cases successfully prosecuted, the first prison sentences for perpetrators, 321 communities declaring abandonment and 44 judicial and police officers trained on an FGM protocol [5].
• September. The new Constitution, approved by referendum, bans FGM in Article 9 [5][28].

2026

• 6 February. An imam from Kindia told UN News that FGM “is not a prescription of Islam” and called for teaching about it in schools [22].
• 6 August. The Ministry of Women, Family and Solidarity warned families that school holidays expose girls to excision and asked that any planned cutting be reported to child protection services [23].
• Night of 1 to 2 September, Koukoudé (Douprou, Boffa prefecture). A 12-year-old girl died of haemorrhage after a forced excision, in a community that had publicly declared it had abandoned FGM. Her mother and the excisor were questioned by the gendarmerie; according to the gendarmerie, the excisor acknowledged the facts. An autopsy was ordered. No charge or verdict had been reported at the time of writing [14][15].

What the data show

Three trends stand out. First, change is slow. Prevalence among young women aged 15 to 19 fell only from 97% in 1999 to 92% in 2018 [5]. No newer national survey on FGM was available to us; the 2018 DHS remains the reference.

Second, girls are cut younger, and in more severe forms. Most are now cut between five and nine [4]. Among girls under 15, infibulation rose from about 6% in 2012 to 15.8% in 2018 [3]. The UN warned as early as 2016 that more infants were being cut, and that fear of sanctions was pushing families towards discreet, individual cutting [26].

Third, FGM is moving into clinics. The share of girls cut by health workers rose from 31% in 2012 to 35% in 2018 [3]. In a 2021 study of 150 health workers in Conakry, 90% said that cutting by a provider violates medical ethics, yet many believed it reduces “promiscuity” (38.7%). They named family pressure, gifts and the idea of “harm reduction” as reasons colleagues do it [24]. A ministerial order has banned FGM in health facilities since 2010 [4], but by 2016 no health worker had been sanctioned [26].

What the law says, and where it fails

Under the 2016 Penal Code, FGM carries three months to two years in prison and/or a fine of 500,000 to 2,000,000 Guinean francs. Premeditation raises this to two to five years. If the girl is disabled, the penalty is five to ten years; if she dies, five to 20 years. Parents who authorise the act face the same penalties, and the maximum applies when a health professional cuts in a health facility [3][4]. Note that the US State Department says death within 40 days can bring life imprisonment or the death penalty [9]; the death penalty was abolished in 2016, and other sources read Article 261 as a 20-year maximum [3]. This confusion itself shows how poorly the law is known.

The gap between law and practice has clear causes:

• Light sentences. Between 2014 and 2016, all eight people convicted received suspended sentences or small fines [26]. Prison terms in 2025 were described as a first [5][10].
• Few cases reach court. In 2019, 50 people were arrested and 16 convicted; in 2018, nine were arrested and five convicted [3]. These numbers are tiny next to a practice that still affects most girls.
• Pressure on police and judges. Officers and judges face threats, and groups of women have stormed police stations to free suspects [4]. Police often say they can do nothing about “culture” [25].
• Family settlements. As in Koloma in 2025, families try to settle cases privately [13]. Most suspects are relatives: grandmothers, aunts, mothers [10][11][14].
• Belief. In 2018, 56% of women and 64% of men believed FGM is a religious requirement [4].
• Weak means. The police unit for gender and child protection (OPROGEM) has limited resources [4], and an official in N’Zérékoré said the State lacks vehicles and logistics to reach hidden camps [11].
• Declarations without follow-up. The Boffa death in 2026 occurred in a village that had publicly abandoned FGM [14].

What works

Guinea’s experience, like that of its neighbours, shows that law works best when it is part of a wider package. Community-led change is the core: in Damaro (Kankan), UNICEF-supported “mentor women” talk to mothers and, importantly, fathers; some families have stopped cutting and now campaign themselves [29]. Religious voices matter: since 2014 the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs has worked on FGM, and in 2022, 75 Muslim and Christian focal points and 25 preachers hosted monthly radio programmes [19][21]. Health workers can become allies when training, guidelines and sanctions go together; the 2021 study found that 90.6% of providers believed FGM could end within a generation [24]. Finally, firm, public sentences send a signal: after the Kaloum verdict, the State said it would appeal any suspended sentence in the Yalenzou case [10][11].

What RFLD asks for

1. Enforce the law in every case. Every reported case should be investigated and prosecuted, with the State acting as civil party. Prosecutors should resist “amicable” settlements and request firm sentences, as the Penal Code allows.
2. End medicalised FGM. Apply the ban in health facilities, sanction health workers who cut, and add FGM to all medical, nursing and midwifery curricula.
3. Publish data every year. Use the 2023 national platform to publish reports, arrests, prosecutions, sentences and deaths by region, and fund a new DHS or MICS survey.
4. Protect girls during school holidays. Fund OPROGEM, gendarmerie and social workers to find and close hidden camps, with a working toll-free line in local languages.
5. Follow up public declarations. Every village that declares abandonment needs monitoring, and leaders who allow cutting afterwards should be held accountable.
6. Support survivors. Provide free medical, psychological and legal help to girls and women, including reconstructive care.
7. Protect activists. Investigate threats and attacks against people who speak out against FGM.
8. Honour regional commitments. Align policy with Article 5 of the Maputo Protocol (2003), which requires States to prohibit all forms of FGM, including medicalised FGM, and to support victims.

RFLD tools you can use today

• Women’s Rights Laws: Guinea, to find the texts on FGM, violence and child protection.
• Ending FGM in West Africa and the Ending FGM video series, for community discussions.
• Maputo Barometer 2026, to track how States apply the Maputo Protocol.
• Maputo Protocol Training Manual and the Protocol in African languages, to train paralegals and community leaders.
• Legal Framework for the Rights of Women and Girls in West Africa (2023) and West Africa women’s rights laws: paper vs practice.
• Decisions and enforcement, to follow court rulings on women’s rights.
• CEDAW and UPR review calendar, to plan shadow reports on Guinea.
• Women in Leadership Tracker: Guinea.
• Survivor Support Toolkit and Get Support.
• RFLD Francophone Academy, free certified courses in French.

A law needs people behind it

Guinea has written the ban on FGM into its Constitution, its Penal Code and its Children’s Code. What it has not yet done is make the ban real for the girl in a holiday camp in Yalenzou or in her aunt’s home in Koloma. The 2025 Kaloum verdict shows that courts can act. The deaths in Kouroussa, Koloma and Boffa show the cost of waiting. With firm prosecutions, health workers who refuse to cut, religious leaders who speak clearly and communities that keep their word, Guinea’s next generation of girls can grow up whole. RFLD and its members in Guinea stand ready to help.

References

1. Institut National de la Statistique (INS) and ICF, “Guinée EDS V 2018: Indicateurs clés”, 2019, dhsprogram.com
2. INS and ICF, “Enquête Démographique et de Santé 2018: Principaux résultats”, 2019, dhsprogram.com
3. ACCORD, “Anfragebeantwortung zu Guinea: Verbreitung von FGM, rechtliche Bestimmungen und Organisationen [a-11195-7]”, 7 April 2020, ecoi.net
4. Swiss Refugee Council (OSAR), “Guinée: mutilations génitales féminines (MGF)”, 10 December 2024, fluechtlingshilfe.ch
5. UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, “Guinea: FGM country snapshot (2025 results)”, 2026, unfpa.org
6. UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, “2024 Guinea country snapshot”, 2025, unfpa.org
7. UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme, “Guinea: key programme results in 2023”, 2024, unfpa.org
8. US Department of State, “2021 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Guinea”, 2022, ecoi.net
9. US Department of State, “2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices: Guinea”, 2024, ecoi.net
10. Guinéenews (J. P. Sangbalamou), “Kaloum: la justice condamne quatre femmes pour excision d’une fillette”, 29 August 2025, guineenews.org
11. Guinéenews (M. K. Camara), “Excision en Guinée: une pratique interdite mais toujours vivace, le cas de Yalenzou relance le débat”, 26 August 2025, guineenews.org
12. Seneweb (F. A. Sylla), “Guinée: une fillette de 5 ans décède des suites d’une excision à Koloma”, 22 August 2025, seneweb.com
13. Avenirguinee.org, “Fille décédée à la suite de son excision à Koloma: des tentatives pour étouffer l’affaire”, 22 August 2025, avenirguinee.org
14. Agence Guinéenne de Presse, “Boffa/Douprou: une fillette de 12 ans meurt d’une excision forcée dans le district de Koukoudé”, 3 September 2026, agpguinee.com
15. Loupe Guinée, “Guinée: une fillette meurt d’une hémorragie après une excision forcée à Boffa”, 3 September 2026, loupeguinee.com
16. Guinéenews (L. Celestin), “Grandes vacances: bienvenue dans l’horreur des mutilations génitales féminines”, 15 August 2022, guineenews.org
17. Guinéenews (L. Celestin), “Mutilations génitales féminines: les Guinéennes face à l’horreur”, 20 February 2023, guineenews.org
18. Guinéenews (M. S. Diallo), “MGF en Guinée: plus de 700 cas enregistrés entre 2021 et 2022”, 7 February 2023, guineenews.org
19. Guinéenews, “Le programme conjoint UNICEF-UNFPA appuie le Gouvernement guinéen dans sa lutte contre les MGF”, 15 February 2023, guineenews.org
20. Guinéenews (S. Sanoh), “Lutte contre les mutilations génitales féminines: les membres du CNT outillés”, 3 April 2023, guineenews.org
21. Guinéenews, “Lutte anti-mutilations génitales féminines: la forte implication des leaders religieux en Guinée”, 3 February 2022, guineenews.org
22. UN News via AllAfrica, “Fatwas, foi et idées fausses: briser les mythes sur les mutilations génitales féminines sur le continent”, 6 February 2026, allafrica.com
23. Ministry of Women, Family and Solidarity (publireportage in Guinéenews), “Alerte vacances scolaires en Guinée: protégeons nos filles contre l’excision”, 6 August 2026, guineenews.org
24. M. D. Balde et al., “Attitudes of health care providers regarding female genital mutilation and its medicalization in Guinea”, PLOS ONE, 13 May 2021, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
25. The Advocates for Human Rights, “Guinea joint stakeholder report for the UPR, 49th session”, 11 October 2024, theadvocatesforhumanrights.org
26. UN News, “UN report reveals increasing incidents of female genital mutilation in Guinea, including on infants”, 25 April 2016, news.un.org
27. End Violence Against Children, “Guinea prohibits all corporal punishment of children” (Children’s Code 2019/2020), end-violence.org
28. Al Jazeera, “Guinea coup leader Mamady Doumbouya wins presidential election”, 30 December 2025, aljazeera.com
29. UNICEF Guinea, “I decided not to have my daughters excised: Koulako, mother of 7 children, Damaro”, 30 January 2023, unicef.org
30. Pressenza Conakry (M. Camara), “Protection de l’enfant en Guinée”, 2 July 2026, pressenza.com