Image description: An illustration showing a red sign that reads “BANNED” in capital letters next to a hut painted white and with a grey roof. The background is green. Monrovia, Liberia (Minority Africa) — In 1990, 17-year-old Kuo* was living with her aunt in western Liberia when was sent to the Sande bush schools to be cut. “My aunt said she was taking me to school, I didn’t know it was the bush school where I would go through a painful experience,” she says. “It was like I fell in an ambush, it was painful.” Until a recent suspension, these schools, originating from the Mande-speaking peoples, were still operational. The secluded bush schools are organised by the Sande society, a secret women’s initiation society in Liberia and other African countries such as Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea. Girls are kept in these schools for a period, which in some cases could be up to a year. The girls are taught lessons aimed at preparing them for marriage and womanhood. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is then performed as a rite of passage into womanhood with the cutting itself carried out by the leaders of the Sande societies called Zoes. “When I came out of the bush school and saw my friends still in school, I would bend my head to hide my face,” Kuo says. “It really hurt me; I don’t want any of my children and relatives to be part of it.” In late February, Chief Zanzan Karwor, chairman of the National Traditional Council of Liberia, announced a three-year suspension of the practice of female genital mutilation in Liberia. The three-year ban began with immediate effect and comes amidst campaigns by human rights groups for a total ban of the practice. According to 2020 United Nations data, 44 percent of Liberian girls and women aged 15-49 years have undergone female genital mutilation, which usually consists of the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. In Liberia, the practice is usually done with crude tools and no anaesthetic , and could lead to death, health problems or psychological trauma. It is an encounter Kuo describes as “an evil and painful experience where pain doesn’t end.” Lakshmi Moore, a Liberian feminist believes the short-term bans do not address or respond holistically to the issues relating to what causes FGM and its effects on girls and women. “It’s a delay mechanism which means that initiation is merely deferred and in some areas, acts can continue without strong and clear actions to ensure it’s eliminated like enforcement procedures,” Moore says. “It means even more harm whenever girls who for instance have advanced in school get recalled back to undergo initiation, so it’s [not] progress,” she adds. Nelly Cooper, the Director of West Point Women for Health & Development Organisation (WPDHDO) calls into question the long-term efficacy of a three-year ban. “If implemented properly the ban should stop the practice of FGM for the three years. However there is a need for a permanent ban afterwards,” she says. This ban comes after two previous short-term bans in the country with 2020 United States Human Rights reports on Liberia stating that several human rights organizations reported bush school activities and FGM continued during the period of the previous bans, bolstering concerns as to the effectiveness of the implementation of the ban. “While the suspension is welcome, it is not as enforceable because it can’t stop the practice totally during this period,” says Mackins Pajibo, a Program Officer at Women Solidarity Incorporated. “We still have records and complaints of it still being carried out in some areas.” Liberia is one of three countries in West Africa with no laws expressly criminalising FGM. In absence of such laws, current laws on kidnapping, felonious restraint, and endangering lives have been used to try cases. “While Liberia has attempted to prosecute forced FGM and death resulting from the practice with its existing laws, the biggest barrier is the lack of witness protection for victims and witnesses,” notes Asenath Mwithigah, the Global Lead on Equality Now’s End Harmful Practices program. In 2015, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – Liberia and Africa’s first female president – publicly spoke against the practice. However, it wasn’t until 2018, on her last day in office that she signed an executive order that banned the practice. In 2016, the Liberian legislature removed a provision in a domestic violence bill that sought to criminalize the practice, stating that FGM was a cultural matter. As a result, presidents seeking to ban the practice have been forced to issue executive orders, which are only valid for a year in Liberia. Current president George Weah also issued an executive order in 2019 that banned the practice for a year.