By Mustapha Kamara
An Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) campaigner Ursula Iyamide Davies, a staff of Manifesto 99, a Human Rights Organization working on gender issues in Sierra Leone is currently being hunted for by members of the Soweis Council a secret society organization that promotes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or Female Genital Cutting in the country.
The report indicates that Ursula Iyamide Davies has been Manifesto 99 lead campaigner on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which the organization was working on as part of an international coalition led by the International NGO No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ).
The coalition was part of the international effort to campaign for a United Nations Resolution banning FGM a resolution passed in 2012. The organization then embarked on a nationwide outreach and sensitization on the Resolution and how to use it to campaign against FGM in Sierra Leone where the practice was still widespread.
Ms Davies was the lead campaigner and was also the focal person monitoring nationwide compliance with the UN Resolution to which Sierra Leone is a signatory and State Party supervising activities of field monitors in the 12 districts of the country.
Manifesto 99, as part of its mandate, had field monitors in selected chiefdoms in every district. These monitors are all initiates of the “Bondo” society which carries out circumcisions on girls and adults who fall foul of the society. Ms Davies was tasked with debriefing these monitors, most of whom were not sufficiently literate to send written reports of their findings in the field. She then prepares and collates written reports for the office and its international partners. She represented her organization in national and international meetings and seminars where experiences are shared on challenges in the efforts to eradicate FGM.
Ms Davies went to London in the summer of 2018 to attend experience-sharing seminars organized by No Peace Without Justice with one of her colleagues Ms Mariama Bangura, one of the monitors in the field. She left the UK for the United States to participate in side events on FGM campaigns held in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly of 2018.
Whilst she was in the USA, she started getting reports of subtle covert threats against her and other anti-FGM campaigners by the “Soweis” council, the lead organization of initiators who have threatened to kill her anywhere they set eyes on her as her campaign continued to undermine their secret society activities.
Meanwhile when our reporter went to check on Ursula Iyamide Davies’s residence at 32 Andrew Street Murray Town, an old woman believed to be one of her relatives intimated of how a bunch of initiators went there raining invectives and said they were waiting to deal with her anytime they lay hands on her.
Mr Desmond Coker a resident of the affected property, recounts the harrowing experience of waking up to the aftermath of the attack, which left their home defaced and damaged.
“It was a horrifying sight to wake up to,” said the old woman. “The windows were shattered and personal belongings were strewn across the yard. It’s not just the physical damage, it’s the violation of feeling safe in your own home”
In an interview with this press, Executive Director Manifesto 99. Abdul Rahim Kamara, said they are worried about the safety of Ursula Iyamide Davies as an organization they have advised her to stay put whilst they monitor the situation about her safety when she returns home.
Abdul Rahim Kamara called on the government of Sierra Leone to raise their responsibility of protecting human rights defenders and campaigners in the country as they work under fear, intimidation, harassment and threats to their lives.
Manifesto 99 is a Sierra Leonean Human Rights Organization which monitors the compliance of the government of Sierra Leone with International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Treaties to which Sierra Leone is a State Party.
Sierra Leone has the seventh-highest FGM rate in Africa. According to UNICEF, nearly one in ten girls aged 0-14 have been cut (as reported by their mothers) – though, the agency cautions that “the data on prevalence for girls under age 15 is an underestimation of the true extent of the practice” as girls remain vulnerable to FGM until they reach customary age, which is 18 in Sierra Leone. FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia report revealed.
Press Release
FREETOWN-10TH SEPTEMBER 2018: Following the adoption of The United Nations Resolution banning FGM in 2012, Manifesto 99 embarked on a nationwide outreach and sensitization on the Resolution and how to use it as a tool to campaign against FGM in Sierra Leone where the practice is still widespread.
The Organization as part of its mandate and campaign, deployed field monitors in selected chiefdoms in the 12 districts of the country. These monitors are all initiates of the “Bondo” society which carries out circumcisions on girls and young women. The monitors are tasked with reporting incidents of circumcisions in their areas of deployment.
Manifesto 99 is deeply concerned over reports of subtle and overt threats directed against our monitors from people believed to be members of the “Soweis” council, the lead organization of initiators performing female genital mutilation/cutting of young girls and women.
We have received disquieting reports of an attack in Kambia on a nurse whose cousin, Ms Ursula Davies, is the organization’s gender focal person tasked with debriefing field monitors and collating their reports. Ms. Davies usually stays with her cousin on her visits to Kambia to debrief our field monitors.
Ms Davies is currently attending an experience sharing conference in London with one of our field monitors.
In the light of the foregoing, we are calling on the authorities to investigate these threats against our personnel and their relatives and take necessary decisive actions.
We also called on the government of Sierra Leone to protects human rights and campaigner in the country.
Signed
………………………………..
Abdul Rahim Kamara
Executive Director.
ABOUT MANIFESTOR 99:
Manifesto 99 is a Sierra Leonean Human Rights Organization which monitors the compliance of the government of Sierra Leone with International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Treaties to which Sierra Leone is a State Party.