NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) has won international recognition, but a new United Nations report warns that progress must accelerate dramatically if the country is to meet the global goal of eliminating the practice by 2030.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Report 2025, released on Sunday, highlights Kenya as a success story in combining legislation, grassroots activism, and survivor-led campaigns to cut down FGM rates.
The practice was outlawed through the 2011 Prohibition of FGM Act, and in recent years, counties such as Narok, Samburu, and West Pokot have recorded steep declines.
“Kenya has made notable progress in reducing the prevalence of FGM, driven by legal reforms and grassroots activism. However, to achieve global elimination of FGM by 2030, progress must be 27 times faster than in the past decade,” the report states.
While praising community-based initiatives—including partnerships with elders, religious leaders, and women-led programmes offering alternative rites of passage—the UN warns that weak law enforcement, cross-border cutting, and entrenched cultural norms continue to slow progress.
In some cases, girls are taken across to Tanzania and Uganda to undergo the outlawed procedure.
The report further cautions that Kenya’s gains against FGM are being undermined by persistently high rates of child marriage, particularly in rural and pastoralist regions.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the world’s highest prevalence of early unions, the UN notes, with economic pressures and cultural traditions keeping girls out of school and vulnerable to abuse.
“FGM and child marriage are violations of human rights that must be eliminated. Accelerating progress is critical to achieving gender equality and ensuring every girl has the chance to thrive,” the report adds.
Education is singled out as the strongest safeguard. Evidence shows girls who complete secondary school are far less likely to undergo cutting or be forced into marriage.
The UN calls for replication of successful grassroots models, stricter border controls, and greater investment in schooling and health programmes to protect girls.
With just five years left to the 2030 deadline, the report describes Kenya’s position as a “defining moment”: it can either consolidate its progress into lasting change or risk reversing hard-won gains.
“Progress is possible, but not inevitable,” the UN warns. “The elimination of FGM and child marriage requires urgent, sustained, and scaled action.”
