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Kenyan Girls win circumcision ban.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1069000/1069130.stm

For the first time in Kenya, two teenage schoolgirls have won a court order
preventing their father from forcing them to undergo female genital
mutilation, traditionally known as circumcision.
A court in Rift Valley Province issued a permament injunction on their
father, Pius Kandie, stopping him from allowing his daughters - 17-year-old
Ednah and 15-year-old Beatrice - to undergo the process without their
consent.

The magistrate Daniel Ochenja ordered the father to continue providing
financial support for the girls, who are still living in the family home.

The order has been welcomed by human rights activists as an important step
towards ending the practice, which remains widespread in much of rural
Kenya.

Historic case

The Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Kenya helped the girls bring
the case.

 The girls' lawyer, Ken Wafula, has termed the case historic saying it would
encourage other girls in the province, who are forced into circumcision, to
make a stand against the practice.

He told the BBC that the two sisters considered the practice outdated and
repugnant to justice and morality in the 21st century.

The human rights group says girls from the Kalenjin tribe are normally
subject to circumcision and immediately forced into sexual activities or
marriage.

This, says Mr Wafula, disrupts their academic growth, exposes them to
unwanted pregnancies and the deadly disease, Aids.
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Heather L. Lindkvist
Committee on Human Development
The University of Chicago
5730 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL  60637

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