Freetown, 16th July, 2026 – The Coalition for the Protection of Girls and Women has issued a formal appeal to the ECOWAS Commission, urging decisive regional commitment to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). This came as West African leaders gather in Freetown for the 69th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Capitalizing on the high-profile summit, the Coalition urged ECOWAS to recognize FGM as a critical regional human rights and public health priority rather than just a domestic concern.
The appeal highlighted heightened risks for vulnerable girls during the upcoming school holiday initiation season, and called out the failure to fully implement the landmark 2025 ECOWAS Court of Justice judgment regarding Ms. Kadijatu Balaima Allieu, which ordered the Sierra Leonean government to compensate the survivor.
The coalition called on ECOWAS leaders to include a formal commitment to protecting women and girls from harmful practices in the summit’s final communiqué, enforce member-state compliance with binding regional court rulings, and push for explicit statutory prohibitions against FGM across West Africa.
