Colombia has become the first country in Latin America to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM), following the unanimous passage of a landmark law aimed at ending the harmful practice in parts of the country’s Indigenous communities.
The legislation, approved by Colombia’s Congress last week, comes after years of advocacy by survivors, Indigenous leaders, healthcare professionals and lawmakers seeking to end a practice that has left generations of girls with lifelong physical and emotional trauma.
According to reports by Reuters, one of the campaigners, Carla Quiñonez, whose identity has been protected, said her daughter was only six months old when the child’s great-grandmother subjected her to FGM without her knowledge or consent.
“When my grandmother brought my baby back, she had a fever. She was swollen, bleeding and crying constantly,” Quiñonez said.
She said the elderly woman insisted the procedure was normal and warned her not to tell anyone. Living far from the nearest health facility, her mother, a traditional midwife, used medicinal plants to relieve the baby’s pain after failing to convince the older woman to stop the practice.
Quiñonez said her grandmother justified FGM by claiming men mocked women who had a clitoris.
Female genital mutilation involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The practice has no health benefits and can cause severe bleeding, infections, chronic pain, childbirth complications, psychological trauma and long-term reproductive and sexual health problems.
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, with the practice mainly concentrated in parts of Africa, but also present in some communities across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
In Colombia, FGM has primarily been reported among the Emberá Indigenous community, which has about 300,000 members and also lives in neighbouring Ecuador and Panama.
Quiñonez said she only understood the scale of the practice as she grew older.
“I always wondered why more girls than boys seemed to die shortly after birth,” she said.
She recalled the death of a healthy newborn cousin, who was said to have died from an ancestral illness known as “jai”. She now believes many such deaths may have resulted from complications linked to FGM.
Official figures show 240 cases of female genital mutilation were recorded in Colombia between 2020 and June 2026, with most victims younger than six years old. However, health experts believe the actual number is far higher because many cases are never reported.
Paediatrician Dr Diana Ramos Mosquera of San Jorge University Hospital in Pereira described the documented cases as only “the tip of the iceberg”.
She said she had treated girls with scarring, burns and genital injuries discovered while they were receiving care for unrelated health conditions. One patient required reconstructive surgery after her vaginal opening had been sealed shut.
Dr Ramos described FGM as a form of sexual and gender-based violence with lifelong consequences, while stressing that education alongside enforcement would be essential to eliminate the practice.
“Some members of these communities genuinely believe they are doing no harm,” she said.
Although researchers have offered different explanations for the origins of FGM within the Emberá community, Juliana Domico, legal representative and chief Indigenous councillor to the National Confederation of the Peoples of the Great Emberá Nation of Colombia, rejected the idea that it should be considered a cultural tradition.
“Our culture is our clothing, our crafts, our dances and our language, not a practice that kills. Culture does not kill,” she said.
Domico welcomed the legislation but urged the government to support it with public education campaigns and adequate funding for implementation in affected communities.
Quiñonez said speaking out against FGM had exposed her to threats and hostility, particularly from men, while also recounting discrimination she experienced from healthcare workers after seeking treatment for her daughter.
Despite the challenges, she believes attitudes are beginning to change, with more women questioning the practice and some older women expressing regret for carrying it out.
She said the new law offers hope that future generations of girls will be spared the suffering endured by countless victims.
“One day, I will have to explain to my daughter what happened to her,” Quiñonez said. “It is a difficult conversation, but it cannot be avoided. Every girl deserves to understand her body and speak about it without shame.”
