Female genital mutilation laws by country

In international law, there is a consensus that female genital mutilation is a human rights violation that needs to be criminalised and eradicated by all states.

14 (1990),[1]: 11  Maputo Protocol Article 5 (2003),[1]: 24  the Cairo Declaration on the Elimination of FGM (CDEFGM, 2003),[1]: 21  Istanbul Convention Article 38 (2011),[2]: 35  Sustainable Development Goal 5.3 (2015),[1]: 19  the East African Community Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (EAC Act, 2016)[1]: 20–21  and United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution No.

[2]: 45 Despite international reports to the contrary,[8][2]: 45 [1]: 26  female genital mutilation has been explicitly criminalised in the Netherlands since 1 February 2006, namely in the then Articles 5.3 and 5a.1 of the Dutch Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht),[9] and the statute of limitations was increased on 1 July 2009 by not starting until the day after the FGM victim's 18th birthday.

[2]: 45  By March 2020, Estonia, Germany, Malta and Portugal had also introduced explicit provisions criminalising FGM, so that 14 out of the current 27 EU Member States have specific anti-FGM legislation.

[1]: 25–26 Indian Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said in 2017 that the 1860 Indian Penal Code, the 1973 Criminal Procedure Code and the 2012 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) could be invoked to prosecute FGM cases and that a specific law to criminalise FGM was not necessary.

[6]: 48  As of September 2018, Guinea Bissau, Kenya and Uganda were the only countries in Africa that criminalised and punished cross-border FGM.